Google's "iLost" Motorola ad faked an address to "lose" iOS 6 Maps

Google's "iLost" Motorola ad faked an address to "lose" iOS 6 Maps(appleinsider.com)

16 points by joshus 13 years ago | 16 comments

akmiller 13 years ago |

Why does Apple Insider continually use "Google" in this story instead of Motorola Mobility. Yes, Google owns them but they are still their own entity. It's silly to suggest that since a company owns another company that they oversee everything that company does. I think it's fair to say "Google's Motorola Mobility", but if you just read this article you would think that Google itself was behind the advertising campaign.

barista 13 years ago | |

If Google owns the entity then Google better be behind these campaigns

akmiller 13 years ago | | |

Have you never worked for a large corporation that owned or was owned by another entity. I have and I can tell you that while we were owned by someone else we still operated as an individual company. Their may have been some changes, but day to day operations were very much unchanged.

akgerber 13 years ago |

Just because a piece of land doesn't have a building on it (even if it isn't currently legally buildable) doesn't mean its address "doesn't exist". New York City is glad to point you at the address: http://gis.nyc.gov/dcp/at/f1.jsp?submit=true&house_nbr=3...

akgerber 13 years ago | |

Likewise, the stretch of "E 15th St." in Brooklyn is actually named "Marlborough Rd." on the ground in the stretch where #315 is located: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=315+E+15th+St,+Flatbush+-+Dit...

It does look like the city understands the alternate name, not that that'd help you when you're out looking at street signs: http://gis.nyc.gov/dcp/at/f1.jsp?submit=true&house_nbr=3...

barista 13 years ago | | |

Just checked and Bing gets it too!

WildUtah 13 years ago |

Errata to the writer: the hotel name you could not locate in Sapporo is written in kana, specifically katakana, one of the four distinct alphabet and glyph systems the Japanese written language requires.

Only the name of the city of Sapporo is written in kanji as you suggest.

smackfu 13 years ago |

Are we sure the Apple hasn't fixed this since the release? I know people were complaining about getting sent to Brooklyn for what should be Manhattan addresses.

>So why would anyone actually be "looking for 315 E 15th" in New York? The only reasonable reason would be to locate an actual address that does exist in Brooklyn

I'd be really surprised if Apple is checking whether particular street numbers are assigned when it is finding their location. That seems very dependent on iffy data. In fact, I just checked it, and it will gladly locate an address past the last number on a street, and just put the number at the end. (If you get really crazy with the number, it will say 'Approximate Location') Google does the same thing.

DRAGONERO 13 years ago |

Why fake a location on a flawed map? Was the goal just to get caught in doing that? It seems a bit silly to do something like that since Apple Maps is in such a bad shape.

natesm 13 years ago | |

All they had to try was "53 and 3". Apparently the Ramones were singing about Singapore :)

splawn 13 years ago | |

could it be something like a movie using a 555 prefix on a telephone number?

FireBeyond 13 years ago |

You know "Sequences and screen images simulated"?

Know why that is on most cell phone ads?

Because other manufacturers complained of deceptive practices in advertising when Apple would talk of how easy (and quick) it was to do something on the iPhone compared to other phones...

shinratdr 13 years ago | |

Actually that message was present long before Apple was popular. Digital images are always super-imposed onto devices after filming because the camera picks up the actual device screen as somewhat washed out.

I do love the anti-Apple explanation you have concocted from thin air though. Plausible enough that some might buy it. However most on HN won't buy it because they aren't 12.

FireBeyond 13 years ago | | |

One apology: "Sequences shortened".

And, no - the 3GS was targeted for a class action:

http://www.wireless-weblog.com/50226711/the_iphone_3g_class_...

"Twice as fast at half the price"

The venerable 37S acknowledged that, as a result, the 3GS ads started including that phrase.

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1328-apple-iphone-ad-sequence...

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/30/siri-la-suit-fake-ad...

But nice pro-Apple shilling to make me sound like the bad guy.

-- signed, an iPhone 4, 4S, iPad 3, 2G nano, 160GB classic iPod owner.