Apple's London Stores to Distribute iPhone and iPad Olympic Pins - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple's London Stores to Distribute iPhone and iPad Olympic Pins

With the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics set for tomorrow in London, Apple is preparing to offer an extra bonus to some customers visiting its stores in the area during the roughly two-week event. The company has produced a series of four lapel pins commemorating the London Olympics, displaying the flag of the United Kingdom in place of the screen of both black and white iPhones and iPads.

apple london olympics pins 1
The pins are distributed attached to larger sheets of cardboard that appear as five iOS device flags hanging on a line, with the center one being the actual lapel pin.

apple london olympic pins 2
We have not confirmed the exact details on distribution of the pins, but we've heard that select stores will be distributing the free of charge while supplies last on select days. Also unclear is how broad the distribution will be: Apple has a total of six retail stores inside the M25 motorway encircling London, with several others just outside and a total of 33 in the United Kingdom.

Apple offered a similar promotion during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, distributing an iPod nano pin with the Canadian maple leaf at one store and a pair of pins showing off the maple leaf and the Apple logo at the other Vancouver-area store open at the time. Apple now has four stores in the Vancouver area.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

178 months ago
Wow. That's not tacky at all.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
178 months ago
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.

As a British person I can safely say that I've not seen a Union Jack hung anywhere in my city for ages...and its a big city.

It's nowhere near as bad (not sure thats the correct way of putting it) as in the US, where its seemingly common to have a flag hanging on the front of your house.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69650 Avatar
178 months ago
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.

I think you win the award for most pathetic comment of the year.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
178 months ago
Why not British Flag on underwear? :cool: It would sell like hot bread rolls! Sigh...
Pampers are selling Special Edition nappies with the Union flag on them, "to support Team GB in the Olympics".

I'm not sure how what my daughter does in her nappies constitutes support for the team, but then I'm not in marketing.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
178 months ago
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.

As an Irish person, I have no problem with it. As someone else said, they don't have Union Jack's everywhere all the time. It's just on special days. We do the same on Saint Patrick's Day and other special occasions.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
178 months ago
Nowt wrong with a bit of national pride.
I don't think some realise it's different to how it was 30 years ago. We break out the Union Flag now for the right reasons, basically to celebrate or to party.

But you know, if people want to see it as it was that's their issue to work through, not ours.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)