I have no doubt that the iPhone that John Stewart pulled out of his pocket was actually his own (i.e. that he paid for it).

Leave it to Apple to always get free press no matter what glamourous event there is.

Yes, that was a good moment. I had to rewind and show my wife (who otherwise had little interest in the Oscars).

The next award after the iPhone demo was for Animated Feature. Ratatouille won, and the winner thanked Steve Jobs (among others). So Steve sure enjoyed those few minutes of the Oscars.

Oscar is not the only one. There are other sitcoms show using iPhone or iTouch.... just like how every cast in every movie using MacBook.

"How come we didn't here how Chuck on "Chuck" has an iPhone? "

Probably because Chuck is not in Apple's market segment.

"And this is not a "testament" to its popularity. It's more a testament to it's 'knowability' (or whatever you want to use as the term for 'a lot of people have heard about it'). Someone making a reference to OJ Simpson wouldn't be a testament to his popularity, but people's knowledge of his existence."

The knowability is the direct effect of its popularity, Just because you hate Apple, doesn't mean everyone else does. The popularity of the iPhone is 75% which is unheard of in consumer electronics. About half of those signing up for the iPhone are new customers to AT&T and many are paying huge penalties to leave their carrier before their contract is ended.

"But, really, did anyone actually see the Oscars? I didn't even know it was on until 11:30 (although I only would have watched it for the entertainment value, so fast-forwarding on my Tivo would've taken only 45 minutes)."

Well I didn't watch the Super Bowl either - it doesn't mean it doesn't get a big audience

For those 2% who want features that would make the product unlikeable for the other 98% of the market, Apple doesn't need you and catering to you almost destroyed Apple -move along - we don't need your negativity Testudo.

"So, keep this in mind when MS releases the Zphone. They won't be starting from scratch, so they'll be able to build on the enormous popularity of the Zune and skyrocket right up there to (insert your own ridiculously low number here)..."

You can be one of the few that buys one. Microsoft has lost in money every market except operating systems and office suites where they already have a monopoly. They can't even sell Xboxes and they were always strong in games. They can't seem to even give away their Zunes.

He was really checking his email ! no doubt his iPhone was hacked so it would show mail in a horizontal view.

Oh...I get - it a double makes a postive ?¡ ®

C'mon people, it was just one of his many props for each joke that he did. I like John Stewart but I thought he did a bad job. Re: Testudo...I actually look forward to his amusing rants but he screwed the pooch on this as many other subjects. I love the Oscars and the artistic media that it celebrates.

I scanned the channels several times and couldn't find the Oscar's, was it on a major network ;) I would love to see iphone take center stage at the Oscar's...off to search You Tube. ®

What are you people talking about?

Yes it was Jon Stewart's iPhone... Apple _gave_ it to him, along with cash no doubt, to promote it. It's the same with any TV show or movie with Apple products. It's called paid product placement.

I have no idea if the iPhone used was Stewart's own, but yes, he has one (as does everyone of any import on TDS or CR). I don't know if he paid for it or if Apple gave him one, but I should think the latter. If Steve Jobs ever goes on a talk show, it will most likely be TDS.

PS. TDS is almost the only reason I haven't sold my television.

"Anyone who thinks that an analyst publishing a report is price manipulation is either stupid or naive" You don't work in finance either, do you? Or you must be young in the job then. Of course every "analysis" is not aimed at price manipulation. But it *does happen*. If you don't believe it, you are naive too. By the way, extremely favourable analysis could also be just "manipulative"...

The knowability is the direct effect of its popularity, Just because you hate Apple, doesn't mean everyone else does. The popularity of the iPhone is 75% which is unheard of in consumer electronics.

I don't hate Apple. But knowability isn't related to popularity. Everyone knows Microsoft. I wouldn't say they are popular. George Bush is known probably by 99% of Americans, yet has a 30% popularity rating.

About half of those signing up for the iPhone are new customers to AT&T and many are paying huge penalties to leave their carrier before their contract is ended.

OK, so what? They've only sold 4-5 million phones worldwide, which is really low on total phone sales. You make it sound like that 75% is equating anything to its sales, yet wouldn't one expect, then, 75% of all phone sales be the iPhone? And how many of that 75% have heard of it but don't like it (yes, there are people out there who have said "Doesn't do what I need it to do. Too hard to use for certain tasks. Too limited. Etc.")