Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disappearing iPhone Ad

(Credit: Cult of Mac)

So, you may have heard the mysterious tale already: a massive iPhone advertisement was plastered on one side of the 24-hour Apple Store on 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan, only to disappear less than a day later. (I went around noon today to check. It is, indeed, gone.) Makes us wonder...why? Is there foul play afoot? Is something rotten in the core of Apple? Hmm...

Here are Cravers' preferred explanations for this mysterious occurrence.

• It looked too much like a Mooninite. Apple pulled it down early because they didn't want the negative press that would inevitably stem from bomb squads outside their 5th Avenue store.
• Steve Jobs changed his mind. No more iPhone. He's going to set his sights on buying Google first.
• The Splasher got to it, and it had to be taken down.
• The part of the ad depicting the iPhone screen was getting too scratched up. Can't let that happen!
• Cingular has spotty billboard coverage in that area.
• They were just looking for another reason for gadget blogs to be talking about the iPhone. Sneaky, sneaky Apple.