Apparently the new Apple iPhone commercials caused quite a stir among both the Apple faithful and the public at large, according to this article in The New York Times.

The phone is coming out in just 17 days. But that didn't stop Apple fans, as viewers "pored over [the commercials] with Talmudic intensity," learning whatever details they could in advance.

The article ends with the tale of Pacific Catch, a restaurant in San Francisco whose phone number appeared momentarily in one of the iPhone ads. For some reason, the restaurant received 100 extra calls per day over the next week, according to Pacific Catch general manager Rob Schechtman.

Most of the callers wanted to know if it's actually a real restaurant. But other folks were more persistent, according to the article. "Some people ask about the iPhone - when it was coming out and how much it would cost," Mr. Schechtman said. "And I say, 'We're a restaurant, not an Apple Store.' " The restaurant's computer system, he said, is actually PC-based.

A Few Details of the iPhone Galvanize the Apple Cadre [NYT]