Anyone who seriously thinks Apple are going to turn into another Google or Facebook needs to give their head a wobble.
Look at, for example, their recent pro-privacy improvements to the App Store where developers are now forced to state in black and white what data their Apps collect.
Look at, for example, how pissed off Facebook were with recent privacy improvements in iOS. If Zuck is pissed off about a privacy improvement, then it must be a good thing !
If Apple didn't give a shit about user privacy and wanted to sell all your data, they would have done so a long time ago.
Fact is that Apple has many moats. One of their biggest moats is their stance on the privacy of their user's data. They know that if they backtrack on that, many people (including myself) would vote with their feet.
They already do "sell", in a very similar way as Google and Facebook does - look at their app store ads for example. Only real difference between Google/FB and Apple is that they process data on device, not on their servers. Sure, it's a huge technical difference, but not that much in terms of business and end users.
Google and Facebook don't sell your data directly, as it's bad business - you want to sell access to customers as a subscription to get big bucks. They have all the initiative to protect data they gather on their servers. Same as Apple has to do that on devices.
There're details to it, but just moving where you process user data isn't that much of a difference to end users - you're still a corporation selling other people ability to show me ads for cribs, when you discover that I'm expecting a baby.
And honestly, I'll take it. I have always been OK looking at ads if it funds the tools I use and the media I consume. I have always been OK with some amount of demographic and history-based ad targeting. I have no moral objection to some company gatekeeping advertiser access to my eyeballs and selling that access at a premium, especially if I'm already going to see ads everywhere anyway unless I go off-grid. I have no moral objection to using my demographics and general interests to show me ads for hiking boots instead of kung fu lessons.
I am not OK with companies storing, collecting, selling, etc. my data without my knowledge, consent, or legitimate ability to opt out. If the data doesn't leave my phone and all of the "targeting" happens on my own device, I can think of much worse compromise outcomes.
You may want to check on this belief more thoroughly, at least with Meta/Facebook as a start.
Meanwhile back on Planet Earth .....
Going by your argument you should not own any electronic device.
Because you should not be trusting Intel/AMD to make your CPU because they might have put spyware in it ....
Because you should not trust your keyboard manufacturer because they might have embedded a keylogger in it....
Because you should not trust your choice of OS because you haven't personally reviewed 100% of the source code and all subsequent patches for spyware ...
In the end, its about balancing risk vs reward. And frankly, especially in terms of privacy, Apple are far more trustworthy than the vast majority of other options out there.
I personally feel some sort of regulatory framework around data collection and sales is not too much to ask.
Normally I'd agree with you, but I think Steve Jobs has a long history of not giving a shit about what shareholders say because he was more concerned with delivering the perfect product to customers, so I'd like to think that Tim Cook has also carried this torch too.
Yes they are a for-profit company, I still get that... But everyone has been shouting "Just wait, Apple will become just like Google once they realize how juicy that data is to their bottom line!!" for literally decades, yet... Nothing.
You'd like to think that. I would too. But even if it's true, Tim Cook will not be there forever either. Publicly traded companies are owned by shareholders who can and will do what they want. The last half century of business is littered with the corpses of once vaunted corporate bodies stripped by investors.
Many moons ago I worked for a large online gambling provider. They worked tirelessly to make their company trustworthy, make their games entertaining, and build relationships with their high rollers. Internally, they had strategies to squeeze as much money from every user as possible without causing distress. It was quite eye opening and I can't help but draw parallels between them and Apple.
To me, anyone stretching over to apologize for Apple needs to give their head a wobble. They are just going for the profit, selling you the lie of privacy. They want to scan your photos, remember. They already gave the FBI the tools they need to unlock phones, and they are of course part of PRISM.
It's hardly any different than what Google or Facebook do except it's even more encompassing.
If they start selling your data, they'll quickly eliminate the very market share that gives them such power. And why would they want to give up that data anyway? Better to use it themselves. A lot of people will accept the data collection as long as it doesn't go to third-party companies, we have ample evidence for that already.
No they absolutely will not. 99% of Apple users do not care about privacy. And when Apple does this, those users will find excuses to why it's okay.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-o...
If iPhone started reneging on privacy guarantees, I for one would switch to a dumb feature phone the same day.
The fact that Facebook got decimated by the controls added indicate the level of concern people have when offered a choice.
The fact that you would even consider this means you are a part of that 1%.
I think that's absolutely beautiful and very human.
"We don't sell or share your data so we can be the only ones who have access to it for advertising purposes"
I don’t believe this is what’s happening now. Do you have any evidence that it will happen in the future, or is this just anticipatory anxiety?
This flies in the face of everything Apple has ever done.
I'm more cynical than most, but I also pay attention, and I find it more plausible that a company run by a very private gay man actually holds privacy as a company principle. That fits the facts much better than the conspiracy view.
Apple has already struck out once in the ad industry because they refused to violate user privacy to compete with Google and Facebook. This time around they've acted to bring Google and Facebook down onto a level playing field.
Since Google acquired DoubleClick, it's like we've forgotten that it's possible to sell targeted ads based on target locations, rather than based on personalized demographic profiles of target users. Being able to target locations impersonally is what initially drew ad dollars to the internet, as the targeting could be more specific than general TV spots or roadside billboards.
There's no evidence that Apple intends to use any personal information at all in their ad targeting, and plenty of evidence that they don't. If it is "gatekeeping," it's a gate that they seem unwilling to cross themselves.
Shouldn't you really say "letting Apple users decide..."?
Of course not, in the same way that a Bently manufacture doesn't care that I own the car everybody envy, but that doesn't mean he won't make a car the everybody envies, because he does care about selling me an expensive car.
So Google was evil from the start, back when they were just selling ads based on your search terms and not yet spying on your entire life online and offline?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPogdNafgic
Apple has the led the conversation on privacy far before anyone else was. I remember them get vilified from sharing their stance 10 years ago.
So they can make more money by selling access to a userbase they withhold from all other advertisers. The notion that Apple cares about anything other than the money-printing ability of their phone users is clearly and obviously wrong.
They should probably have more such values, but they definitely "care" about some things other than printing money.
I'm all on board the Cynicism Express, but you've gotten on the wrong track here. Apple can be a monster for many, many reasons while still operating based on principles of user privacy.
Why does Apple want to sell more ads?
Because money.
It’s incredibly profitable for Apple to sell ads when people search the iPhone App Store for fitness apps or read articles in the Apple News app.
Yes, it's profitable for Apple to sell ads. They tried once before and failed because they refused to violate personal privacy for ad targeting. It is possible to sell fitness ads when people search for fitness apps, or health ads on articles about health subjects, without violating personal privacy. People are concerned about whether Apple will compromise long-held values because Facebook and Google have worked to pretend there's no difference between selling context-aware ads and selling privacy-invading user-tracking ads. There is a difference, though.
What's really worrying is that having Apple gatekeep advertisers gives them the power to dictate what platforms can get ads vs what platforms can't. Letting Apple decide what platforms/services get their potential ad revenue cut in half is not a good thing.