The bogus ad on its own doesn't create any problems. But combine it with those Apple iPhone owners who are not knowledgeable about smartphones in general and iOS in particular and you have the recipe for some rather stupid, self destructive behavior. Yes, that is right. Some iPhone owners actually believed what they were reading was legit and decided to test it out on their own device.
The result, as you can imagine, left a few people upset as their beloved smartphone died from water damage leaving them with no phone and no recourse. Unless Apple decides to give these people a break, they are SOL as the water damage detector is bound to show quite clearly that the reason their iPhone isn't working has something to do with the handset being damaged by water. We have a call into Apple to see exactly how it is handling this. As soon as we get a response from Apple, we will pass it along to you.
Just to make matters clear, no Apple iPhone or Apple iPad model is water resistant or waterproof out of the box. There are third party companies that will make your iPhone waterproof for a price.
The idea for the prank might have come from a patent we told you about this past March, which was awarded to Apple. The patent is for a number of sensors that are placed inside an Apple iPhone and can detect when you've dropped your handset. Using gas to slow down the free falling iPhone, the device makes a soft landing keeping the components inside the unit intact.
source: BusinessInsider via CNET
