There is of course nothing wrong with Apple getting a slapped wrist because of its current advertising campaign for the iPhone in the UK. Essentially the ad demonstrated how simple it is to download and install applications to the phone, followed by how easy it was to surf the Internet and so on.

The thing is, in the UK at least an advert has to be about 30 seconds long. Which might indeed be enough time to install an application, but on the other hand it might just not be. So they edited, quite selectively. In a version I caught a couple of nights ago they also - and I can't help but admire them for this - had a little note on the screen saying they'd cut out some of the steps in order to make the advert shorter.

So, as CNET and others have reported, the advert has been withdrawn.

Personally it makes me feel rather nostalgic. This is how technology used to be, surely - the people who made the hardware or software would announce it, confirm it was easy, say how straightforward the installation was. Then you'd buy it, tear your hair out, gnash your teeth a little and end up having to adjust your working practices a bitbefore it would do anything approaching 'working'.

It was commonplace. And young workers today just don't believe you when you tell them.