The iPhone Software.com

Not buying it when the pilot tells you weather is holding up your flight? iPhone to the rescue!

By Patrick Smith

Nov. 16, 2007 | If you’ve been watching TV at all, you’re by now familiar with Apple’s iPhone
blitz. You know the campaign I’m talking about. Each ad stars this or
that insufferably regular Joe who proceeds to share some touchy-feely
tale of how his iPhone all but saved the nation from calamity. As a
rule, I don’t like talking about television, especially commercials, but I’m obliged to address the iPhone spot featuring the pilot.

It goes like this: An airline pilot tells us about the time he was
working a flight from Chicago to Newark, N.J. Before departure, he was
notified by controllers of a three-hour weather delay. Suspicious, he
whipped out his iPhone and browsed over to Weather.com (“with our
engines shut down,” he carefully notes, avoiding any conflict with the
rules). Noticing that the troublesome rain showers had already moved
through, he contacted his dispatcher. The dispatcher “took another
look” at conditions, and 30 minutes later the flight was cleared to go.
IPhone to the rescue. More —>