They are fundamentally different in that two of them derive revenue solely* from exploiting your data, and one of them doesn't.

* by-and-large

They became as successful as they are by collecting massive amounts of data to learn to effectively psychologically manipulate people into buying their products, convincing them they are the most secure, fastest, most private option that will make people like them more for using.

Apple is above all else a data driven marketing and advertising firm just like Google and Meta. They are profitable because they are effective at using data to change user purchasing behavior.

Wild to assert that Steve “I never rely on marketing research” Jobs was successfully only because he did better market research than his competitors.

it seems Apple's hardware revenue have started to plateau, and their services revenue is in jeopardy with the new EU changes to the App Store

it wouldn't surprise me if Apple started ramping up their data revenue in the near future to compensate

> and their services revenue is in jeopardy with the new EU changes to the App Store

the services revenue is at an all time high and keeps climbing:

https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/14629/apple-services-reve...

re. app store, the EU market represents just 7% of their worldwide app store revenues, most probably due to the fact the EU market is 65% android:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/01/apple-says-eu-represents-7...

https://www.statista.com/statistics/639928/market-share-mobi....

I was considering less how their revenue is now and more how it will be when the EU regulations hit and they lose the guaranteed 30/15% cut on all iOS apps

I know the US govt is hitting them with a similar anti-trust lawsuit, so it might happen over there too

If Apple lose their walled garden, and the 30/15% cut with it, both in EU and US, I think that could be a massive problem for them

Whether or not that will actually happen, or if Apple will find a way to compensate for the lost revenue, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if it was causing big discussions inside the company though, and I wouldn't be surprised if people become more bearish on Apple until they show they've found a solution

> Apple lose their walled garden, and the 30/15% cut with it

This could be fantasy talking. How does the walled garden around Steam affect their 30% cut? Oh, there is no wall, and it's... 30%.

So wait, if non-walled-garden stores cost 30% in an open market -- are we sure this is going to work out getting to use the world's most valuable app store shelf space for free?

It doesn't work that way at Walmart...

A better comparison is the (derelict) Mac App Store. Apple still continues to charge their 30%, and their most professional developers and customers continue to avoid their store. Adobe doesn't sell full-fat Photoshop through Apple's storefront, Avid doesn't bother with it for Pro Tools, Ableton, Bitwig, Sony, U-HE, Sonar, Spectrasonics, and even Panic don't fully commit to Apple's offerings. Nevermind the fact that ubiquitous components of modern professional software development (git, bash, grep, make, the lot) isn't even allowed to be distributed under their own terms on the App Store. If nothing changes, Apple will become Lord of the Flies.

If Apple wants to be Steam, let them play Steam's game and see how far their philosophy takes them.

if only they put macOS on the iPhone, this would all be avoided

> This could be fantasy talking. How does the walled garden around Steam affect their 30% cut? Oh, there is no wall, and it's... 30%.

Steam isn't both the OS manufacturer and the sole vendor of games on PC, unlike Apple and iOS

I can release a game for PC or macOS and never pay Steam or Apple a dime, can't say the same for iOS

Which one is the third one? All three operate advertising networks with significant revenue and run massive data collection services (e.g. find device networks, ad networks, personal health data collection, etc.)

The other one derives revenue from keeping users captive, so they can't turn off data collection even if they wanted to.

There's no suggestion that I can see that Apple collects this for marketing. It's collected on-device for suggestions. The exceptions are adverts in the App Store and News

Apple’s PR team is remarkable. They get away with nearly everything

What is the easiest way to get comparable smartphone experience with some actual control over your privacy?

There is no comparable option.

I have not carried a phone in 3+ years. In spite of what some would have you believe, it is actually relatively easy to live an active and socially engaged life in the modern world without a phone.

Major mental health wins from being offline when you are away from your desk too.

>In spite of what some would have you believe, it is actually relatively easy to live an active and socially engaged life in the modern world without a phone.

Right? This is completely anecdotal, but I've occasionally seen people lament, "You have to bank, as well as manage health and travel stuff on your phone". My follow up is always, "What can I do with those apps on my phone that I can't do via a laptop or desktop?" I am typically met with silence.

Seriously - beyond SMS 2FA, there's nothing I can do on my phone that I can't do on my desktop, and I sure as hell don't need to have constant access to all of that when I'm out and about.

I would say to get an android phone and flash Graphene OS (Pixel phones) on it.

Your choices are very limited, but you can get an android phone supported by LineageOS or other alternative roms.

I have tried, a long time ago, LineageOS on Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4. The both of the ports were so buggy, that by those experiences I could not trust the maintainers to be capable of securing the system. It may have been a false assumption, but I had to think stability/bugs and security must correlate at some levels.

Actually if you link popular software with a hardened memory allocator, apps will just crash a lot instead of allowing buffer overflows that are shockingly common.

YOLO mallocs most operating systems ship allow an application to -feel- faster and more stable at the expense of security.

If you want software to be stable in a strict malloc environment, write it in rust :)

To be fair though, LineageOS security is actually terrible. Do not use it. If you must have an Android device CalyxOS is the least bad option today.

Practically any Android phone from a reputable vendor. The default apps might share more data than you might like, but it does give you actual control to turn that off. You don't have to send your location to anybody any time an app requests it like iPhones send your location to Apple. You don't have to tell anyone you installed an app like iPhones tell Apple.

I know it's crazy but I trust Apple a lot more than I would Google or Meta when it comes to my data.

Snowden revealed the PRISM program which shows that the US government works with Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft etc to surveil the public.

I don’t expect to be able to have privacy in the face of a state actor.

I just want the company to keep my data private from other commercial players. Like don’t sell all my data to anyone who asks or use it to create an invasive model to then advertise/manipulate me.

I think it is reasonable to say that Apple is better on that front than Meta or Google.

No, the PRISM program shows they surveil specific foreigners living outside the US with a court order.

Most of the world are foreigners living outside the US.

Yeah, I don't fully trust Apple, just more than Google and Meta. I would expect the government can get information from just about any company if they really want it.