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Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

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Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they'll either put up a paywall That would be a great alternative. I buy Apple stuff because the business model is simple. I give them money and they give me stuff.

i dont know any computer or phone manufacturer that gives phones for ads.

All consumer PCs except for Macs are subsidized by ads - the Intel Inside, Powered by Nvidia stickers and the crapware that comes on PCs.

Android phones are also subsidized by manufacture and carrier crapware. Not to mention that Android manufacturers get Google Play Services free in exchange for Google ads and analytics.

The most popular streaming media devices - Rokus - have hard coded buttons that go to the highest bidder. I have a Roku remote right now with an RDio button and there are some auth a Blockbuster button. Not to mention half the home screen on Roku devices are taken up with ads.

Microsoft has ads in Windows 10 and Skype.

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s how Brave works—using zero-knowledge proofs, it uses your browsing history to inform its opt-in ad network on what ads should be shown to you. That info doesn’t leave your device. And if you opt-in, you get paid using their cryptocurrency Basic Attention Token: https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/13/20962085/brave-beta-1-0-...

Why does it need my entire browsing history? The example given above didn't ask for that.

Not sure it needs your entire search history: https://www.reddit.com/r/BATProject/comments/8v11fr/how_will...

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#173

> Only about 9% of Safari users on an iPhone allow outside companies to track where they go on the web > In comparison, 79% of people who use Google’s Chrome browser allow advertisers to track their browsing habits on mobile devices through cookies. Something to keep in mind the next time you see someone from Google complaining about how Apple won’t allow Google Chrome to run natively on the iPhone.

Or thinkpieces claiming that "Safari is holding back the web".

From Modern Day's Startup CEO, CTO or SVP that are under 30 or barely 30+ getting their 5 minutes of frame, while never actually programmed in the IE era and wrongly assumed IE era as IE 7 or IE 8.

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#174
People are going to unpleasantly surprised by the way the internet changes after tracking for personalized advertising stops working. Already, I see tons of complains about paywalled news sites, micropayments everywhere, and the death of the "old internet". Just imagine how much worse it'll be when only two or three giant social media companies can make money with advertising (since they can rely on first-party data) and everyone else is relegated to a high-friction ghetto. If you're sad about the death of the "old internet", look out, because you haven't seen anything yet.

As for tracking: the current "privacy" push looks like a moral panic to me. I've yet to see any actual personal harm come to anyone as a result of cookie-based tracking. I have, on the other hand, seen billions of people benefit from the monetarily-free services that personalized ads enable. Whipping up an anti-cookie hysteria is making the internet worse for everyone but the big established giant companies.

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#175
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how they work. What you're seeing is the issue with not having data shared between networks and the resulting poor targeting. Retargeting has better results than any other type of targeting but unfortunately there's a gap between the ecommerce systems knowing you bought something and the ad networks used to market those ads. It's easy to drop a pixel and say you looked at a product, but it's much harder to…

Amazon has been repeatedly showing me office chair casters as a suggestion after I bought a set on Amazon. Despite having much better information on things I actually spend money on than the average ad network (all my devices have adblockers), Amazon isn't clever enough to figure out that I'm probably done with that product category for years.

The explanation I've seen is that yes, most people who buy certain products (a microwave oven, say) are probably done for a long time and less likely than the average person to buy one, but overall the group of people who just bought a microwave oven are still much more likely than the average person to buy another one. So yeah there are a bunch of people for whom the ads seem extremely stupid because of course you don't need another one, but enough who think "you know, I could use one in (the camper/the basement/the rental/the garage-office), actually, but it'll need to be a smaller one" that it's worth advertising other options to the whole group. (for the record, I hate all ads and wish they'd go away)

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To charge, if you forget, misplace, or just don't want to carry your phone charger brick.

The iMac caught so much flak for omitting the floppy drive.

It's be less ridiculous if the iphone didn't come with a USB cable. It did, though, just the "wrong" one (I understand from elsewhere in the thread they've finally fixed that, however).

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way. Imagine how Steve Jobs would feel if he found out you could go to an Apple store, buy a Macbook and an iPhone, and still have to buy an additional cable to connect them together!

No, Steve would correctly point out that the supplied cable isn’t for connecting to a computer, it’s to charge the phone or dock with a car. Connecting an iPhone to a Mac is a niche activity these days, and anyone who needs to do that surely understands what USB-A and USB-C are.

"The future's USB-C! Convert!"

"So, the iphone charging cable will connect to USB-C?"

"What, are you crazy? Literally everything is USB-A."

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#178

As someone who worked in ad tech for half a decade, I fail to understand the fuss about cookie based targeting. We're speaking of databases mapping data to random numbers stored in a file that can easily be deleted. The real issue is ad targeting by a handful of large companies that have personally identifiable information. It's not like cookie based targeting is very effective either. It's very difficult to get cook…

> Genuinely curious so would appreciate calm, non-aggressive responses.

My browser history is none of your business. That’s it.

I don’t take care if violating my privacy by stealing my browser history is less effective than the newest way of violating my privacy.

Doesn’t make it any better.

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#179
post #26
post #7

I was talking to my friend about this the other day. He's an executive at an ad company (not Google). He had an interesting take on this: Yes, it is in fact working and breaks targeting and retargeting. But what is the outcome of that? The CPMs (how much the website makes) are 10x higher for re/targeted ads. So as they stop working, do you think the website will cut their revenue? No, they'll either put up a paywall,…

> It's just the smaller websites who suffer by not getting ad revenue. I’m ok with anything that frustrates people who get money from ads.

Why cut off your nose to spite your face?

Re: Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market

#180
post #37

Let us not forget that Apple isn't doing this out of altruism, but 50% because it hurts their competitors and 50% because it makes their users happy. That said, being 50% motivated by making their users happy is more than can be said about Google or Facebook. Edit: To be clear, I am an Apple customer and it's mainly on privacy grounds. I just like to keep realistic expectations about their present and future behavior…

At an Apple all-hands around 2005, an employee asked Steve why they made the iPod, and he said "because we love music." And the answer was so simple and so earnest, that you just knew it was true. Apple, for better or for worse, makes products based on what its executives personally want to use. That's not the only consideration, but it's unusually salient compared to other companies. My guess is that Apple works to…

I'd believe that about Steve Jobs. I don't believe that about Tim Cook, and definitely not about the average Apple exec.
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