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Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

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Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#71

Post by tsunamifury »

SaltyBackendGuy wrote: post #66
kergonath wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a hard time seeing how this doesn't end in anti-trust tears for both of them In Apple’s case, I hope antitrust action comes before they stray too far and whilst their interests are still aligned with mine. I don’t want them to make any money from advertising, because then they have a conflict of interest and their pro-privacy arguments fall flat. (Google is too far down that path for me to trust them in the…

> whereas Apple primarily makes money from selling devices I wonder if Apple is predicting that this wont be the case for much longer (lack of real innovation (excluding the M1) and market saturation), so they're being proactive to dominate another vertical. They will likely capitalize on their current image of being privacy kings.

It’s been explicitly stated many times. It’s why Ive left. They are a “services” company now.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#72

Post by bee_rider »

If I were Apple, I'd try serving ads something like:

Send a randomized bundle of ads to each iPhone (the ads must come from my servers). From that bundle, select the ads that fit user interests most closely. Don't report which specific ad the user was served.

This would presumably be quite annoying for advertisers, but it would preserve user privacy and, hey, Apple basically has a monopoly on users who actually pay for apps so what are they going to do? Perhaps the advertiser could be provided with some artificial profiles with statistically representative taste profiles to see how often their ads come up.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#73

Post by tinus_hn »

Havoc wrote: post #30

Sounds like they're copying google with their desire to get rid of cookies / FLOC etc. Strong privacy stance on privacy for others (and in media)...but very quiet on 1st party inhouse ability to connect the dots. I have a hard time seeing how this doesn't end in anti-trust tears for both of them

You don’t need to invade privacy to show ads in a search result, based on that search. That’s how DuckDuckGo survives.

We’ve all heard the anti trust whining about the App Store for over a decade now. It’s not happening. Nintendo gets to decide what you put on a Nintendo Switch, Apple gets to decide what you put on an iPhone. That’s not monopoly abuse, if you don’t like it buy different console or an Android phone.

Phones have become an important generic computing platform, which is why in different jurisdictions there’s political action to force Apple to loosen control. That wouldn’t be happening if it was so obviously illegal monopoly abuse because then it wouldn’t be necessary. Yet it apparently is.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#74

Post by croes »

s1k3s wrote: post #63
justapassenger wrote: post #57

We sell you super expensive product, charge everyone 30% tax for anything you buy on it, put health monitoring devices on you (that you pay for), have directly your credit cards in the wallet (including custom one from us) and in the end capture more data that any other ads giant now. And we’ll use that for ads. But it’s fine. It’s locally so it’s fine and you are not a product. All because we convinced people using…

There is no competitor to their super expensive product.

Of course there is. Apple advantage is it's closed system not the iPhone. If you only need to maintain compatibility to your own products it's easy.

If it wear MS not Apple they would already be fined for anti competitive behavior.

Where is the difference between MS bundling IE with Windows and Apple forcing Webkit in all iOS browsers?

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#75

Post by ben-schaaf »

roflc0ptic wrote: post #56
pretext-1 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS natively supports content blockers and Safari extensions.

Super misleading. You can block websites manually, but you can’t add an adblocker to Chrome - so if you want an ad free experience, then you’re forced to use safari, a historically subpar browser - but worse, it’s vendor lock in. If this article is true, this is some terrifically anti competitive behavior

Chrome on iOS uses the same browser engine as safari; it's vendor lock in regardless of what you do.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#76

Post by koolba »

s1k3s wrote: post #63
justapassenger wrote: post #57

We sell you super expensive product, charge everyone 30% tax for anything you buy on it, put health monitoring devices on you (that you pay for), have directly your credit cards in the wallet (including custom one from us) and in the end capture more data that any other ads giant now. And we’ll use that for ads. But it’s fine. It’s locally so it’s fine and you are not a product. All because we convinced people using…

There is no competitor to their super expensive product.

Putting aside the walled garden of iMessage, what’s so special about iPhones that you can’t do with any other expensive smartphone?

The average person is just checking email, taking pictures of their food, reading garbage news sites, and watching mindless fad videos.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#77

Post by tinus_hn »

treis wrote: post #64
parasubvert wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The anti-trust is a bit of an odd one. A few possibilities - do Google and Apple wind up controlling the online ad market? Or - does the ad market shrink because Apple exploits it less? (Killing an industry isn’t anti-competitive per se) Another angle is that captive audiences will be steered to other Google or Apple products. But debatably this only becomes anti-trust worthy when Google and Apple will start to buy m…

>Killing an industry isn’t anti-competitive per se Using your dominance in one market (computers/phones) to muscle into another (ads) is about as anti-competitive as you can get.

Also if those ads are exclusively limited to the original market? People can easily choose to shop outside of that market and be exposed to exactly 0 of those ‘anti-competitive’ ads, only to the competing ads.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#78

Post by gammarator »

greenthrow wrote: post #5

This article does not support its clickbait headline with much in the way of facts. "Analysts estimate" that Apple's ad revenue could drastically increase. Insiders talk of a reorganization. There might be ads included in more apps. The headline makes a major assertion the body does not support.

Moreover, the chart of 2021 ad revenue shows Facebook at $114B, Apple at $4B. The article text says Facebook worries Apple’s changes could cost them $10B, less than 10% of their 2021 ad revenue and more than double Apple’s total.

The narrative doesn’t match the numbers.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#79

Post by diminish »

justapassenger wrote: post #57

We sell you super expensive product, charge everyone 30% tax for anything you buy on it, put health monitoring devices on you (that you pay for), have directly your credit cards in the wallet (including custom one from us) and in the end capture more data that any other ads giant now. And we’ll use that for ads. But it’s fine. It’s locally so it’s fine and you are not a product. All because we convinced people using…

> Apple is planning to expand its advertising business significantly by placing more ads directly on users' devices directly, Bloomberg reports. The expansion would include bringing ads to more of Apple's own apps on iPhones and iPads, including Apple Maps.

I smile remembering "if you don't pay you're the product" which apple lovers lobbied looking at G users, hinting they payment for extra margins will save them from being ad targeted.

But now:

- Paying won't save you from ads.

- You're paying but you're still the product

- And ultimately Apple also gets huge sums from Google, for selling their users.

Re: Apple is building an ad empire as its iPhone privacy crackdown weakens rivals

#80

Post by ssizn »

koolba wrote: post #76
s1k3s wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no competitor to their super expensive product.

Putting aside the walled garden of iMessage, what’s so special about iPhones that you can’t do with any other expensive smartphone? The average person is just checking email, taking pictures of their food, reading garbage news sites, and watching mindless fad videos.

It doesn’t suck.

That’s basically the reason me and every iPhone owner I know buy one.

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