We thought the controversy over the “Samsung apology” in U.K. would have finally been buried after Apple posted the revised “Samsung didn’t copy iPad” statement on its website yesterday and also acknowledged that its previous statement was “inaccurate”.
We were wrong as some reddit and Hacker News are accusing Apple of adding some javascript code on the webpage that ensures that message is never displayed without the visitor having to scroll down to the footer section.
The Next Web points out the javascript pasted below ensures that the iPad mini advertisement takes up the whole page, irrespective of your computer’s resolution. Visitors have to scroll down to the footer section to see the statement:
var HeroResize=AC.Class({initialize:function(b){this._height=null;this._hero=$(b);
AC.Object.synthesize(this);this.__boundResizeHero=this.resizeHero.bindAsEventListener(this);
if(typeof window.ontouchstart===”undefined”){this.resizeHero();Event.observe(window,”resize”,this.__boundResizeHero)
}},setHeight:function(b){this._height=(b<0)?0:b;return this._height},resizeHero:function(){this.setHeight(parseInt(window.innerHeight||(window.document.documentElement.clientHeight||window.document.body.clientHeight),10)-310);
this.hero().style.height=this.height()+”px”}});Event.onDOMReady(function(){var b=new HeroResize(“billboard”)
});
As you can see in the screenshot taken on a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, the message is not seen even when you visit Apple’s UK website in full screen mode.
Screenshot of Apple’s UK website (http://www.apple.com/uk/)
It is not clear if this code was added much before posting the revised apology or if Apple added it just to ensure most visitors don’t see the message. The Next Web speculates that this was probably the reason it took Apple some time to put up the revised apology. CNET reports the latest cached version of Apple’s website available on Wayback Machine (currently June 8, 2012) doesn’t have the javascript code.
The resizing code is also present on Apple’s Australian website. It seems to be missing from the US website (apple.com), but the iPad mini ad still takes up the entire page just like the UK and Australian website. As you can see in the screenshot below, it doesn’t seem to be as optimized as the UK and Australian website, as the thumbnails for iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro and iPhone 5 below the iPad mini graphic are only partially visible.
Screenshot of Apple’s US website (http://www.apple.com/)
As CNET points out, it is possible that Apple added the javascript code to display graphics on a variety of devices at the best possible quality.
We hope that Apple didn’t add this javascript code just to hide the message as it would be following the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. We’re also sure that it won’t go down too well with the UK appeals judges who are already quite annoyed with the company’s antics.
Do you think Apple is hiding the Samsung apology statement or people are just looking for a conspiracy? This may sound biased but we think its the latter as the US website, which doesn’t have the same resizing code also doesn’t show the footer section (in fact you have to scroll slightly more to get to the footer section). It would also be too naive for Apple to think that it can get away with it, especially after getting everyone’s attention by posting the cheeky and inaccurate statement.
Update:
As you can see in the screenshots below, you can see the footer section on the US website on the iPad when held in portrait mode, whereas it is hidden on the UK website, so we could well be wrong:
Apple’s UK website on iPad with Retina Display
Apple’s US website on iPad with Retina Display
[via CNET, The Next Web]
