The normal problem with problem/solution advertising is that the problem is way more interesting and dramatic than the solution. This ad struggles even harder because (to my mind at least) it actually illustrates how the situation in the 'problem' half of the equation is much better than the 'solved' half. (Though I guess that's mostly a problem with the product rather than the ad.)

All the richness, texture, flexibilty and embedded information of the notes on the fridge door is flattened and denuded behind the screen of the joggler.

I'm not saying something like the joggler isn't useful - I can see the value in a family alert system - but you lose a huge amount when you move from paper notes and hand-written information to flat text in a database.

I suspect this'll be a continuing problem for the phone companies as they try and find new pointfullness for their products; they've conquered and incorporated cameras and music players, but that was relatively easy, they're recent technologies. Unseating and improving the centuries-old practise of scribbling a note is going to be a lot harder.

Anyway.