Eric Karjaluoto with a impressively insightful post on the back and forth advertising/branding war waged between Apple and Microsoft over the past few years.

His post is replete with videos of various ads, and analysis of tactics. But one aspect of the campaign he doesn’t touch on is the effectiveness of Apple’s iPhone ads. Never before - at least in my memory - has a company produced an advertisement that is so purely centered around the product, and it’s use.

Here’s a compilation of older iPhone ad, as an example:

And here’s one for the iPhone 3G:

These commercials, in my user-centered opinion, exhibit some of the most wonderful advertising tactics ever employed. In a sense, Apple is basically stating, “Our product experience is so useful, usable, and enjoyable that we don’t need an additional manipulative storyline or concept narrative to tap into your deep emotional core in order to create a purchasing desire within you.” Instead, the commercials are honest, truthful, and messages almost entirely about the object.

The iPhone campaign is incredibly innovative, really.