iPhone television advert banned

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter

The ASA agreed with viewers who thought Apple's ad misleading

One of Apple's adverts for the iPhone has been taken off the TV.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) agreed with more than a dozen complaints over claims about the 3G version's "really fast" performance.

The advert said the product "helps you get the news, really fast", and "download pretty much anything, really fast."

But 17 viewers didn't agree.

They said the 30 second ad was misleading and exaggerated the speed of the device.

Apple argued the claims were only meant to be taken as a comparison to its predecessor.

Previous issues

The company reckoned it was fair to say the 3G iPhone did allow "really fast" downloads and internet access, when compared to the 2G version.

But the ASA backed the viewers.

It said: "The ad was likely to lead viewers to believe that the device actually operated at or near to the speeds shown in the ad."

It's not the first time Apple's got into this kind of trouble.

Three months ago they were banned from using a separate ad over claims the iPhone could access "all parts" of the internet.

Because it doesn't use Flash or Java software to run videos, some websites on it can't work properly.