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I seriously doubt that there is a significant number of customers that Apple attracts by being pro-privacy. On HN and similar environments, sure, plenty of peop

by jswny 9y ago

I seriously doubt that there is a significant number of customers that Apple attracts by being pro-privacy. On HN and similar environments, sure, plenty of people here value privacy, as do I. However, don't think for a second that the community on HN is in any way representative of Apple's customer base at all. Apple customers buy Apple products because they work well, look nice, are popular here in the US, etc., but it's NOT because Apple has a strong privacy stance. The majority of Apple customers couldn't care less about privacy (and probably don't know much about it either) and given the chance, would choose Siri working well and not returning search results from Bing over more privacy any day. So, I agree with your sentiment, but I do not agree with your assessment that Apple's stance on privacy is anything even remotely close to a significant factor in attracting customers.

JauntTrooper 9y ago
That's probably true in the US, though I wonder if it is more important internationally. There are a lot of people living under potentially abusive dictatorships.
baddox 9y ago
I'm not so sure. It becomes a lot harder to explain Apple's very public focus on privacy features if you don't accept that it is a significant factor in smartphone buyers' decisionmaking.
- solaceb 9y ago
  In the past, Apple has marketed certain products towards enthusiasts and power-users, which gave those products a certain "prestige" that elevated Apple's image more generally. (I'm thinking about Pro products here, as they were marketed towards arts professionals). Perhaps Apple seeks to take a similar marketing angle here -- by appeal to computer enthusiasts' desire to privacy, maybe they gain some prestige more generally? I'm not sure.
  - naravara 9y ago
    Makes sense to me. Apple's sweet spot for marketing is people who don't care very much about tinkering with their stuff, but are fussy enough about how it looks and works to pay a premium for good design that works out of the box. Prioritizing privacy and security are one of those things that fit as being fussy about things working well, but not wanting to put the time into configuring them to be so. If that crowd likes your stuff and recommends them, then the less technically savvy folks will pick up on the preferences of that crowd and it build's Apple's brand as making premium products.
macinjosh 9y ago
For their younger demographic I would agree they don't care bout privacy yet. For ~30+ year olds I think it is a big pull. Especially those that have ever had their identity stolen (even though its not really relevant). The average person isn't going to understand how or why Apple's products are better at privacy but if they get the message out there I am certain a good chunk of consumers will see it as a plus.
- naravara 9y ago
  >For their younger demographic I would agree they don't care bout privacy yet. Maybe it depends on who you're dealing with, but in my experience teenagers these days are a lot savvier about these things than the typical people in my (30+) cohort are. (They kind of have to be, no? They actually have parents and teachers snooping on them in their real lives so it's a more concrete concern for them.) This is one of the reasons kids gravitate to Snapchat more than Facebook or Instagram after all: posts on there expire. They have a 'right to be forgotten' by default that they don't get with the other services. So I'd say they still care about keeping personal information personal, it's just motivated by different concerns than it is for the 30+ demographic since they don't have as much sensitive health and financial information floating out there.
cstrat 9y ago
I originally moved to Apple because they had amazing products which were leap years ahead of the competition in terms of build quality and features. These days I feel that they have fallen behind in this space, perfect examples would be the new Galaxy 8 for mobiles and the Dell XPS series for laptops... A major reason for me as to why I continue to stick with Apple is exactly that, the privacy and security focus they have.

by jswny 9y ago

JauntTrooper 9y ago

That's probably true in the US, though I wonder if it is more important internationally. There are a lot of people living under potentially abusive dictatorships.

baddox 9y ago

I'm not so sure. It becomes a lot harder to explain Apple's very public focus on privacy features if you don't accept that it is a significant factor in smartphone buyers' decisionmaking.

solaceb 9y ago
In the past, Apple has marketed certain products towards enthusiasts and power-users, which gave those products a certain "prestige" that elevated Apple's image more generally. (I'm thinking about Pro products here, as they were marketed towards arts professionals). Perhaps Apple seeks to take a similar marketing angle here -- by appeal to computer enthusiasts' desire to privacy, maybe they gain some prestige more generally? I'm not sure.
- naravara 9y ago
  Makes sense to me. Apple's sweet spot for marketing is people who don't care very much about tinkering with their stuff, but are fussy enough about how it looks and works to pay a premium for good design that works out of the box. Prioritizing privacy and security are one of those things that fit as being fussy about things working well, but not wanting to put the time into configuring them to be so. If that crowd likes your stuff and recommends them, then the less technically savvy folks will pick up on the preferences of that crowd and it build's Apple's brand as making premium products.

macinjosh 9y ago

For their younger demographic I would agree they don't care bout privacy yet. For ~30+ year olds I think it is a big pull. Especially those that have ever had their identity stolen (even though its not really relevant). The average person isn't going to understand how or why Apple's products are better at privacy but if they get the message out there I am certain a good chunk of consumers will see it as a plus.

naravara 9y ago
>For their younger demographic I would agree they don't care bout privacy yet. Maybe it depends on who you're dealing with, but in my experience teenagers these days are a lot savvier about these things than the typical people in my (30+) cohort are. (They kind of have to be, no? They actually have parents and teachers snooping on them in their real lives so it's a more concrete concern for them.) This is one of the reasons kids gravitate to Snapchat more than Facebook or Instagram after all: posts on there expire. They have a 'right to be forgotten' by default that they don't get with the other services. So I'd say they still care about keeping personal information personal, it's just motivated by different concerns than it is for the 30+ demographic since they don't have as much sensitive health and financial information floating out there.

cstrat 9y ago

I originally moved to Apple because they had amazing products which were leap years ahead of the competition in terms of build quality and features. These days I feel that they have fallen behind in this space, perfect examples would be the new Galaxy 8 for mobiles and the Dell XPS series for laptops... A major reason for me as to why I continue to stick with Apple is exactly that, the privacy and security focus they have.