Apple wrapped up its iPhone 6/Apple Watch event today with quite the kicker: a performance by U2 followed by a remarkable offer: Everyone can get the band's new album, Songs of Innocence, for free on iTunes through Oct. 13.
Below is the new spot celebrating the partnership, and it's a throwback in more ways than one. It's reminiscent, of course, of Apple's old "Silhouettes" iPod commercials. (You'll remember that U2 did an Apple ad, plus a longer video, around Vertigo in 2004.)
And then, in the new spot, you've also got glimpses of the Ramones and the Clash, to whom U2 is apparently paying tribute with the new record.
U2 and Apple have had a fruitful partnership for years, as Bono and Jonathan Ive discussed this summer at Cannes. One eagle-eyed observer suggested Tuesday that U2 might even be broadcasting hidden Apple messages. After all, Songs of Innocence abbreviated is S.O.I., which backwards is iOS. And U2 S.O.I. backwards is iOS2U.