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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

#91
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

iPhones don’t have Samsung product managers. When my $1000 Galaxy started waking me up with Samsung push notification ads I had not opted in to, I knew I was done with Android.

The mistake was getting samsung.

But yes it should be widely known that android on samsung isn't the same as android on nokia or motorola.

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

#92
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

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…

Even if Apple is found to be anti-competitive, it could still be decided that their behavior is in consumer interest, right? For example if their ad service is actually privacy respecting somehow.

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

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

this is what you get when you elevate an operator (an operations/finance focused exective) in place of a product visionary. that's no knock on tim, who's done what he's been incentivized to do by the board and shareholders, and a good job at that (and rewarded disproportionately so). but steve wanted to win with a superior product, not just numerically as tim does. that's why steve, many years after his death, still garners more respect publicly than tim (though tim is respected too).

it's the same slow decline that happens over and over in these cases. apple is already focused primarily on services, which you can see in their financials. product has stagnated, while services continues to grow, and with it, more and more capital invested in chasing manufactured prestige awards like oscars and emmys.

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

#94
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t suck. That’s basically the reason me and every iPhone owner I know buy one.

> It doesn’t suck. Yet. If iOS News app is any indication of how bad their ads will be then I think they really will be hurting themselves in the long term. My guess is there are many like myself who now use Apple products as the “least bad” option rather than truly liking them anymore, that sentiment will grow way faster when people start seeing ads in more places. I’m one of those people where consistent keyboard s…

I agree. The iPhone is indeed not perfect, but Android makes me grow white hair. (I don’t use the news app though. Can’t say anything about it. If they start putting ads around the system I will think of alternatives.)

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

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It wasn’t been explicitly stated anywhere by anyone who matters

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

#96
post #14

They talk about Apple maps and I for one would like to be able to say I’m looking for a restaurant and see the logos pop up along my route. I’m just hoping Apple will keep their privacy focus. Ads and privacy do not need to be opposed ideas. Ie, my fav Dutch tech blog tweakers.net recently removed all tracking form their ads and serve them locally. I gladly turned off adblock for them and the site was still pleasant.…

Unobtrusive ads have nothing to do with serving them locally, and are main reason why people have problems with them. Give it some time. Ads become obtrusive because it works and it brings more revenue.

They had tracking ads, everybody blocked them, then they changed it.

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

#97
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. P…

> That’s how DuckDuckGo survives.

Interesting example. I found that their service is definitely going downhill.

I’ve been using them almost since they came on the scene. in the past two months I have had to double check search results against Google, where as I expected the results are far superior.

In the previous years I’ve almost never had to double check a result.

So, I don’t know about the future of Apple at all, but I hope the quality stays higher than your example.

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

#98

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 fro…

I never got the “if you don’t pay..” arguments, it seems like you pay and still become a product. What connected devices honestly don’t collect everything possible if you pay for it? I bought a kindle and listen to audible on my phone, now I get recommendations based on my listening on the kindle. Same for a Roku, same for a cable box, same for not trying to buy a smart tv or appliance, same for nearly everything…

Reminds me of a throwaway line on West World season 3, “… before the privacy laws...” like what is it going to take to stop this? Ad industry has been an absolute disaster for the human experience IMO.

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

#99
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

At least Android can't stop you from installing ad blockers.

They sure could rip the whole extension store from default Chrome to make sure you don't get one without going the extra step (which like 90%[0] don't) of getting Firefox.

0: https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/mobile/world...

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

#100
post #89
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

You mean Facebook which is today's scapegoat. They can't buy Beat Saber or Giphy. Microsoft is buying the largest game developer for $70B without skipping a beat.

And every major tech firm buying up healthcare arms.
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