6 ms·

I hate how Apple is becoming increasingly an advertising company.

debacle 4y ago
Every company, once it reaches a certain size, only can grow materially through certain venues: government contracts, financing, advertising, etc.
- NickC25 4y ago
  True, but Apple has so many interesting spaces it could grow into through M&A activity as opposed to putting ads in its TV service. Off the top of my head, wearables and gaming are just two that could promote a ton of genuine growth as opposed to promoting pirating by introducing ads. There are plenty of whip-smart folks at Apple, surely they know people adopted streaming services due to lack of ads, and have the ability to pirate stuff pretty easily.
- ls15 4y ago
  Why do the largest companies need to grow any further? Maybe they should not? The world does not grow.
algoatecorn 4y ago
What's interesting is how this all worked out for them, whether it's serendipitous or purposeful. Conventional consumer data collection relies on users coming to the collection mechanism i.e. spending time on a website or interactions on social media. Apple is poised to withstand many privacy protection measures because their collection mechanism is in millions of peoples' hands and pockets. iPhone users are providing high-resolution data to their platform. The accuracy of your personality profile and related data are nicely packaged and easy to convert into highly targeted advertising.
- prange 4y ago
  The idea that Tim Cook is Batman is pretty far fetched.
  - dont__panic 4y ago
    I mean, Apple has put Lidar into a decent percentage of iPhones over the past few years. Wifi and cellular signals can be used in a similar way to generate low-resolution maps of the world around your phone. And there's of course cameras on the front and back. All running on closed source Apple software, with no physical on/off switch for those data collection pathways... or even the phone itself, which never fully shuts down. So maybe Tim Cook really is Big Brother.
    - prange 4y ago
      There are no data pathways for aggregating that data. It just gets used by apps.
      - coldtea 4y ago
        Says who?
        prange 4y ago
        Says Apple in their privacy policies. If you have even the slightest evidence to the contrary, now is the time to present it.
        coldtea 4y ago
        prange 4y ago
        ben_w 4y ago
        Ok, so I trust Apple about privacy, but back when I tried self publishing on the App Store I kept every copy of the developer agreement because running diff was the only practical way to know about half the changes they made, and for which I was only given a Hobson's choice to accept or stop using the store. I don't trust them to stay good forever. I definitely don't trust them to not get infiltrated by government agents who want the sensor data. I only mostly trust their digital security enough for Apple Pay and Keychain. I recognise none of this is evidence against Apple as it is today, and that my concerns speak of hypotheticals. But then, I don't think of anyone at Apple as Big Brother; the closest is that I find their content rules to be that frustrating Anglosphere dichotomy which treats sexuality as vastly worse than violence.

Every company, once it reaches a certain size, only can grow materially through certain venues: government contracts, financing, advertising, etc.

NickC25 4y ago
True, but Apple has so many interesting spaces it could grow into through M&A activity as opposed to putting ads in its TV service. Off the top of my head, wearables and gaming are just two that could promote a ton of genuine growth as opposed to promoting pirating by introducing ads. There are plenty of whip-smart folks at Apple, surely they know people adopted streaming services due to lack of ads, and have the ability to pirate stuff pretty easily.
ls15 4y ago
Why do the largest companies need to grow any further? Maybe they should not? The world does not grow.

algoatecorn 4y ago

What's interesting is how this all worked out for them, whether it's serendipitous or purposeful. Conventional consumer data collection relies on users coming to the collection mechanism i.e. spending time on a website or interactions on social media. Apple is poised to withstand many privacy protection measures because their collection mechanism is in millions of peoples' hands and pockets. iPhone users are providing high-resolution data to their platform. The accuracy of your personality profile and related data are nicely packaged and easy to convert into highly targeted advertising.

prange 4y ago
The idea that Tim Cook is Batman is pretty far fetched.
- dont__panic 4y ago
  I mean, Apple has put Lidar into a decent percentage of iPhones over the past few years. Wifi and cellular signals can be used in a similar way to generate low-resolution maps of the world around your phone. And there's of course cameras on the front and back. All running on closed source Apple software, with no physical on/off switch for those data collection pathways... or even the phone itself, which never fully shuts down. So maybe Tim Cook really is Big Brother.
  - prange 4y ago
    There are no data pathways for aggregating that data. It just gets used by apps.
    - coldtea 4y ago
      Says who?
      - prange 4y ago
        Says Apple in their privacy policies. If you have even the slightest evidence to the contrary, now is the time to present it.
        coldtea 4y ago
        prange 4y ago
        ben_w 4y ago
        Ok, so I trust Apple about privacy, but back when I tried self publishing on the App Store I kept every copy of the developer agreement because running diff was the only practical way to know about half the changes they made, and for which I was only given a Hobson's choice to accept or stop using the store. I don't trust them to stay good forever. I definitely don't trust them to not get infiltrated by government agents who want the sensor data. I only mostly trust their digital security enough for Apple Pay and Keychain. I recognise none of this is evidence against Apple as it is today, and that my concerns speak of hypotheticals. But then, I don't think of anyone at Apple as Big Brother; the closest is that I find their content rules to be that frustrating Anglosphere dichotomy which treats sexuality as vastly worse than violence.