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Apple’s Social Network

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Re: Apple’s Social Network

#111

Post by GeekyBear »

OJFord wrote: post #72
matty_makes wrote: post #27

I only skimmed the article until I realized they weren't talking about Apple starting a privacy focused actual social network. That's what I thought the article would be about. So this is off topic but what I'm imagining is letting people connect with other iCloud users (aka friends and family) to share pics, videos and comment on them. Maybe they can link iTunes/App store content (apps, music, movies, etc.) with eac…

Apple tried that with music [0] - it was disastrous. I do agree it has a lot of the infrastructure and 'network' bit in place though with iCloud, it's just missing the 'social'. (At least, so it seems from outside the walled garden looking in.) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Ping

Ping was designed to integrate into Facebook, however Jobs pulled that integration at the last second citing "onerous terms that we could not agree to."

One would assume this came down to the two companies views on customer privacy.

https://www.cnet.com/news/steve-jobs-on-why-no-facebook-for-...

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#112

Post by Ibethewalrus »

basch wrote: post #71
ethagknight wrote: post #19

I don’t think he mentioned it, but the easy way for Apple to grow to a $2T company is to get my household, a typical locked-in Apple household with an iPad or iPhone for every person and a computer for each adult and an AppleTV at every TV, to start paying for ever more services through those Apple devices. TV service. Ubiquitous internet service. Financial services like payments but grow into banking. manage all my…

I completely agree. Apple needs to move into full banking. Mint, 401k Management, Bill Pay, TAXES, Yahoo Finance, Student Loans, the old Manilla (collecting ALL aggregate statements in one place forever.) They should buy Schwab, Envestnet, Personal Capital, YNAB, and Motif and slap a Robinhood/Monzo coat of paint on a new frontend. They could go from Apple Pay to Best Banking Experience in the World, in no time. As f…

GE is/was into Finace. Seems it didn’t go well

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#113

Post by basch »

mijamo wrote: post #107
gbrindisi wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I ALSO think SOMEONE should come up with a "financial ID." Instead of signing into banking sites with "Facebook" or "Google" each one has its own unique login, password, security questions, validation. One Financial ID, isolated from Social IDs could drastically cut down on phishing, hacking etc. Smaller institutions would not be running their own Identity/Trust silos in isolation. Resources to build trust over who…

I don't think you can say that bank ID is "isolated from Social IDs".

By social ID I mean facebook/twitter/google. I dont use any of those IDs to sign into banking websites. I can use facebook or google to sign into a bunch of other sites, as my authentication.

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#114

Post by ethagknight »

moolcool wrote: post #65
ethagknight wrote: post #19

I don’t think he mentioned it, but the easy way for Apple to grow to a $2T company is to get my household, a typical locked-in Apple household with an iPad or iPhone for every person and a computer for each adult and an AppleTV at every TV, to start paying for ever more services through those Apple devices. TV service. Ubiquitous internet service. Financial services like payments but grow into banking. manage all my…

>Imagine if those “luxury” expenses were intermixed with a dozen other large, more legitimate bills? Apple could be processing $1000s a month per household, taking a hefty fee from some of them. That's what we need-- another middle man taking a even more off the top of every transaction.

Ha, I'm speaking from Apple's perspective thinking through how they could double in value. I don't think the current method of bills coming from everywhere with different payment requirements is all that great. If this new "middleman" provides value and protects me, then what's the problem? I wouldn't see direct integration with my apple device as a middleman but an endpoint. Furthermore, there are loads of whitelabelled middlemen in the current process, you just see it in one big bottom line number for each bill and may appear as service charges, admin fees, billing services, compliance, etc. Apple moving into this space kinda removes middlemen, reducing the number of touches between the biller and your wallet.

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#115

Post by GeekyBear »

simonh wrote: post #23
amelius wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Openness.

Openness is a pretty old big thing at this point. Apple haven't been open since the Apple II and it's worked out fine for them. Arguably the 'open' camp has missed the current big thing - privacy and security . Yes they are one thing, just with two sides to it.

Given the way Google has walked back the Android platform's "openness" by moving more and more APIs that modern apps require access to into Google Play Services, they are now missing out on security, privacy, and openness.

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#116

Post by ethagknight »

alehul wrote: post #32
ethagknight wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the payment itself, yes, if you want it all automated. Automated payments are to the biller’s enormous benefit (ahem cable company...) To manage or keep un-automated or see reports or change features, it currently requires a separate app, login, UI, or other legacy portals. It’s annoying. Apple could streamline it, and remove a layer of complexity while taking over the transaction (and gain data gold mines)

> Apple could streamline it, and remove a layer of complexity while taking over the transaction (and gain data gold mines) While I strongly agree with your top-level comment, and I think Apple's brand is very valuable, a lot of that is from a trustworthy, privacy standpoint. Small nitpick, but I think on the "data gold mines" point, any area where collecting data is paramount is an area that Apple should not enter to…

I agree completely. Isn't it how apple chooses to use that data that matters most? Choosing to help me with this information vs. choosing to sell to advertisers. Or maybe even more to your point, apple could NOT use the information!! Apple keeping the data encrypted to my device means its no longer available to the market. I friggin HATE receiving notifications from lending institutions about "what we share" and its a long list of advertisers, and there's not a thing I can do about it. (Edited this comment quite a bit to be more clear)

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#117

Post by chipotle_coyote »

72deluxe wrote: post #87
ethagknight wrote: post #19

I don’t think he mentioned it, but the easy way for Apple to grow to a $2T company is to get my household, a typical locked-in Apple household with an iPad or iPhone for every person and a computer for each adult and an AppleTV at every TV, to start paying for ever more services through those Apple devices. TV service. Ubiquitous internet service. Financial services like payments but grow into banking. manage all my…

Do you have sufficient disposable income that you don't notice a $20 bill coming either out of your bank or credit card for an entire year? I would wager that you need to pay more attention to your finances. As the old addage says, "look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves"!

While that sounds crazy on the surface, it really isn't. For one thing, your necessary household expenses (rent, food, utilities, etc.) don't generally scale linearly with your individual income; your expenses don't double when your income does. For another, absolute value, not just percentage, matters. Spending an extra $240 a year matters a lot if you're making $25K; if you're making $150K, it matters, well, less.

I always heard adages and advice about "watching pennies." In practice, though, I've found that I'm far better off looking after the pounds and not worrying about the pennies: that is to say, set up savings targets that get treated like necessary expenses, and to not worry too much whether lunch is $7 or $12.

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#118

Post by ethagknight »

xfitm3 wrote: post #31
ethagknight wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the payment itself, yes, if you want it all automated. Automated payments are to the biller’s enormous benefit (ahem cable company...) To manage or keep un-automated or see reports or change features, it currently requires a separate app, login, UI, or other legacy portals. It’s annoying. Apple could streamline it, and remove a layer of complexity while taking over the transaction (and gain data gold mines)

I rarely make changes so I don’t see the value here. I have every recurring bill setup to auto pay. If I had to manually pay bills I would go insane.

Enabling recurring bill pay across the board is inviting overbilling, especially from services you no longer use. There's a reason companies incentivize you with a $5/mo 'green savings' to go autopay e-billing. That is fine if you don't care, some people's time is more valuable than others, but the potential savings gained from reviewing bills before paying is substantial.

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#119

Post by kristianc »

piokoch wrote: post #95
basch wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. Apple needs to move into full banking. Mint, 401k Management, Bill Pay, TAXES, Yahoo Finance, Student Loans, the old Manilla (collecting ALL aggregate statements in one place forever.) They should buy Schwab, Envestnet, Personal Capital, YNAB, and Motif and slap a Robinhood/Monzo coat of paint on a new frontend. They could go from Apple Pay to Best Banking Experience in the World, in no time. As f…

I think becoming a bank was a big hassle and being a bank is less profitable than core Microsoft or Google activity. Having said that, PSD2 regulation in EU might change all of this - any institution will be able to do banking operations on behalf of the customer. There are some requirement too, but the bar is significantly lowered.

The banking and payments infrastructure is such that most of it is handled by intermediaries and other companies anyway. Most banks, for instance, do not issue their own cards or process their own payments - this is done by an intermediary. It's probably easier for Apple to break into banking by making the right partnerships than you think.

Re: Apple’s Social Network

#120

Post by GeekyBear »

avar wrote: post #30

> Apple said it would stop providing unit sales for iPhones, iPads, and Macs in fiscal 2019, a step toward becoming more of a services business. While some pundits praised the move as a way to highlight a potent new business model, many analysts complained it was an attempt to hide the pain of a stagnant smartphone market. Can companies just pull this sort of "yeah those numbers look bad, so we're not publishing them…

Providing both unit sales figures and revenue always made Apple something of an outlier.

Microsoft has never provided unit sales or revenue figures for the Surface line.

>Microsoft just closed the books on its 2018 fiscal year. As usual, it didn't break out unit sales or revenue for the Surface division

https://www.zdnet.com/article/surface-by-the-numbers-how-mic...

Google has never provided unit sales or revenue for their Pixel line.

>unlike most hardware manufacturers, Google refuses to share official sales numbers for their phone. Instead, during earning reports they simply bundle the product under Alphabet's "Other Revenues", leaving us in the dark about how successful the product is.

https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/rare-moment-pixels-sale...

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