Apple Finds Its Next Big Business: Showing Ads on Your iPhone (theverge.com) 120
"Apple is set to expand ads to new areas of your iPhone and iPad in search of its next big revenue driver," reports Bloomberg.
The Verge writes that Apple "could eventually bring ads to more of the apps that come pre-installed on your iPhone and other Apple devices, including Maps, Books, and Podcasts." According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has internally tested search ads in Maps, which could display recommendations when you search for restaurants, stores, or other nearby businesses. Apple already implements a similar advertising model on the App Store, as developers can pay to have their app promoted on a search page for a particular query, like "puzzle games" or "photo editor." As noted by Gurman, ads on Maps could work in the same way, with businesses paying to appear at the top of search results when users enter certain search terms.
Gurman believes that Apple could introduce ads to its native Podcasts and Books apps as well. [Gurman describes this as "likely".] This could potentially allow publishers to place ads in areas within each app, or pay to get their content placed higher in search results. Just like Maps, Podcasts and Books are currently ad-free.... Gurman mentions the potential for advertising on Apple TV Plus, too, and says the company could opt to create a lower-priced ad-supported tier, something both Netflix and Disney Plus plan on doing by the end of this year.
Bloomberg points out that Apple is already displaying ads inside its News app — where some of the money actually goes back to news publishers. ("Apple also lets publishers advertise within their stories and keep the vast majority of that money.")
And while you can disable ad personalization — which 78% of iOS users have done — Bloomberg notes that "Another ironic detail here is that the company's advertising system uses data from its other services and your Apple account to decide which ads to serve. That doesn't feel like a privacy-first policy."
Bloomberg's conclusion? "Now the only question is whether the customers of Apple — a champion of privacy and clean interfaces — are ready to live with a lot more ads."
The Verge writes that Apple "could eventually bring ads to more of the apps that come pre-installed on your iPhone and other Apple devices, including Maps, Books, and Podcasts." According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has internally tested search ads in Maps, which could display recommendations when you search for restaurants, stores, or other nearby businesses. Apple already implements a similar advertising model on the App Store, as developers can pay to have their app promoted on a search page for a particular query, like "puzzle games" or "photo editor." As noted by Gurman, ads on Maps could work in the same way, with businesses paying to appear at the top of search results when users enter certain search terms.
Gurman believes that Apple could introduce ads to its native Podcasts and Books apps as well. [Gurman describes this as "likely".] This could potentially allow publishers to place ads in areas within each app, or pay to get their content placed higher in search results. Just like Maps, Podcasts and Books are currently ad-free.... Gurman mentions the potential for advertising on Apple TV Plus, too, and says the company could opt to create a lower-priced ad-supported tier, something both Netflix and Disney Plus plan on doing by the end of this year.
Bloomberg points out that Apple is already displaying ads inside its News app — where some of the money actually goes back to news publishers. ("Apple also lets publishers advertise within their stories and keep the vast majority of that money.")
And while you can disable ad personalization — which 78% of iOS users have done — Bloomberg notes that "Another ironic detail here is that the company's advertising system uses data from its other services and your Apple account to decide which ads to serve. That doesn't feel like a privacy-first policy."
Bloomberg's conclusion? "Now the only question is whether the customers of Apple — a champion of privacy and clean interfaces — are ready to live with a lot more ads."
Addle. (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like a great new name. Also very descriptive.
The next big thing: "A)n(pple" (Score:3)
Android with iOS flavour, 70% of the iOS-Devs are laid off, Apple stock skyrockets because of massive cost cutting Apple users will mourn but eat the bad apple anyway.
Re: The next big thing: "A)n(pple" (Score:2)
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"source" you ask? The answer is to be found at it's origin, which is the "source".
May the "source" be with you.
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Apple users will mourn and eat the bad apple, because their only other choice is Android which is nothing more than a preview of where Apple will wind up.
The Linux community needs to come together and throw some money in a hat to motivate developers to finish a Linux mobile OS that is worth a damn.
Re: The next big thing: "A)n(pple" (Score:2)
There was one: Sailfish. It was developed by Nokia, got released with the Nokia N9 and reviews were very good. But then Microsoft bought Nokia, buried Sailfish, recalled the N9 phones and re-released them with that joke OS called Windows phone. There was also the older N900 with Meego/Maemo that people who had it loved, but I didn't see it for the average Joe, it was more of a "phone for hackers".
Today the best alternative you have IMHO is buying a phone supported by LineageOS and installing the "LineageOS
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There was one: Sailfish.
It still exists, it's on version 4.1 which was released this year.
It was developed by Nokia
It was developed by Jolla who built upon the open source MeeGo project which was a collaboration between Nokia and Intel.
got released with the Nokia N9 and reviews were very good.
The Nokia N9 ran MeeGo.
But then Microsoft bought Nokia, buried Sailfish
No, Sailfish didn't exist then and MeeGo was open source.
recalled the N9 phones and re-released them with that joke OS called Windows phone.
Again, no. The N9 had a TI OMAP processor, I don't think Windows Phone can even run on that.
There was also the older N900 with Meego/Maemo that people who had it loved, but I didn't see it for the average Joe, it was more of a "phone for hackers".
I still have one, it's kind of neat as a crossover between a Linux laptop and a smartphone but it's not really good at being either one.
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I don't know about the cpu, however there was really a twin to the N9 with just a different name, that ran Windows Phone and due to the open nature of the N9 it was demonstrated that Windows Phone could also be put onto N9.
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Re: The next big thing: "A)n(pple" (Score:2)
My bad, I wrote Sailfish when meant Meego. the N9 ran Meego, not Sailfish. All the other things I wrote are correct if you replace Sailfish with Meego, including the N9 running Windows Phone, search it if you don't believe it.
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including the N9 running Windows Phone, search it if you don't believe it.
You're thinking of the Lumia line which looked like the N9 but the SoC was different because Windows Phone never ran on the TI OMAP, or perhaps you're thinking of Windows Mobile but I'm not sure that ever ran on the N9 either.
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Btw. N9 was/is meego - I know that because I own and had used a N9 which had a superb usability.
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Bogdan Raczynski used that name first [youtu.be]...
Apple did ads for iOS in the past ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Apple did ads for iOS in the past ... (Score:3)
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The approach here is different. They are copying the ad placement others have succeeded at.
They did that with their first effort, iAds.
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The approach here is different. They are copying the ad placement others have succeeded at.
They did that with their first effort, iAds.
Yes but now they have Ads in the OS like Microsoft does. You see Microsoft placing ads for their OneDrive subscription service in Explorer, well Apple places ads for trials of their subscription services Apple Music and Arcade in Settings.
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The approach here is different. They are copying the ad placement others have succeeded at.
They did that with their first effort, iAds.
What killed the iAd network was Apple wanting to design the ads themselves, requiring that they be interactive ads, insisting on a 30% cut of all revenue generated by the ad, an obscene minimum dollar amount (initially), and a complete lack of third-party tracking and data sharing.
Basically... well, everything *but* the placement. :-)
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What approach? The article mentions ads in development for Maps, a re-org with the ad guy reporting to a new boss, the ad guy saying he wants to double revenue, an earnings call where Cook said there were issues with the ad department letting COVID scams through but didn't throw them completely under the bus, and a whole lot of speculation. Maybe Gurman is right on this but this seems an awful lot like Cringely-level speculation at its worst.
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Re: Apple did ads for iOS in the past ... (Score:3)
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Re: Apple did ads for iOS in the past ... (Score:2)
Nothing would enrage me more (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nothing would enrage me more (Score:5, Interesting)
I have bad news for you. Most streaming services are starting to transition to ads.
"For the cheaper subs", is what they say now, but we all know how that works.
I have Prime Video, and I source the shows they have elsewhere, because I get sick and tired of the ads (for their own shows for now, but...) and the video player is absolutely terrible.
Streaming's has had its best days and is now just backsliding straight into an exact replacement of cable TV.
Re:Nothing would enrage me more (Score:5, Insightful)
And for the same reason it will fail.
We used to have OTA TV. And we put up with the ads because there was no alternative. Cable came along with the promise that we'd pay for our entertainment and in return we get a lot of new networks and no ads. We took it. They added ads. We put up with it because there was no alternative. Streaming came along with the promise that we pay for the streams and in return we get lots of shows with no ads. We took it. They added ads.
Notice a pattern?
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It's still out there.
I get a GREAT HD signal from my little indoor antenna.
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And for the same reason it will fail.
We used to have OTA TV. And we put up with the ads because there was no alternative. Cable came along with the promise that we'd pay for our entertainment and in return we get a lot of new networks and no ads. We took it. They added ads. We put up with it because there was no alternative. Streaming came along with the promise that we pay for the streams and in return we get lots of shows with no ads. We took it. They added ads.
Notice a pattern?
I agree, but you missed out a step. After OTA/Cable (which is not as common in countries outside the US) came Napster/LimeWire/Bit Torrent. These were eventually curtailed by streaming services that gave us what we wanted with no ads. The thing is, Bit Torrent never went anywhere and is going to be right there when streaming services drive us off (I for one, refuse to give Disney any money).
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Bittorrent's success is simply explained: It was convenient. It was more convenient to use than TV and DVDs. The advantage over TV was simply that it had no ads and you could watch it whenever you wanted, the advantage over DVD was that there was no unskipable bullshit and you could easily watch it on your computer without fearing someone would install some malware just so you can watch your video.
Not to mention that stuff like anime was simply unwatchable in the official dub. When fansubs and -dubs are sup
Re:Nothing would enrage me more (Score:4, Informative)
I'm glad it's not just me thinking about Prime Video in this way. It's absolutely unbelievable that they get away with having such an atrocious player in the 21st century. The most annoying thing about it is that they completely disregard the "Hidden Videos" section in most of the UI and still show you the titles you've hidden. Another cardinal sin is that you have to block each and every season of a particular show one by one. Good luck trying to ban all 1000 episodes of "popular" reality dramas. I had to write a custom Chrome browser extension which implements pattern-based blocking to do it for me.
On the plus side, there is a way to stop ads on Prime Video altogether. Install Pi-Hole on a RaspPi (if you have one, of course) and watch for DNS queries when ads are being shown. Eventually, you'll find the set of ad servers URLs which are relevant to where you live (for the same reason, I can't give you my URLs, because they are localised and may be different for you).
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And subtitles don't work, work 10% of the time, are the wrong language completely, only have a very few sentences subtitles, then nothing for 10 minutes, then a bit again.
And so on and so on.
Also audio tracks just randomly cutting out or getting unsynced. It's.. Not good.
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Wow..what streaming hardware are ya'll watching on?
I've had FireTV (boxes, not the usb stick) and now with AppleTV and it works great on Prime, pretty much as well as any of the other streaming services.
It sounded to me like the par
Torrents (Score:3)
I have bad news for you. Most streaming services are starting to transition to ads.
Meanwhile, I still don't see ads inside any .torrent I download.
"- Pirated movies: still beats the experience of any commercial solution!"
Re:Torrents (Score:5, Funny)
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I have Prime Video, and I source the shows they have elsewhere, because I get sick and tired of the ads (for their own shows for now, but...) and the video player is absolutely terrible.
Ironically, guess what Apple TV+ (Apple's streaming TV service, to be clear) already does: unskippable ads for their own shows at the start of every episode.
But it's not really surprising. It doesn't matter how much you're willing to pay to avoid ads, the beancounters making decisions will always decide that "subscription fees + ad fees > subscription fees alone" and they will always be right - at least in the short term, before people find ways to avoid the ads.
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I don't know any transitioning (Score:2)
Keep in mind most advertisements are trying to be entertaining on some level or at least engaging. If you're the kind
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I am exactly the same. I block ads everywhere I can via a combination of adblock, Pi-Hole and hosts-file-based blacklists. I also run my own media centre from my home NAS, where I keep all the digital copies of the DVDs and Blu-rays I own so that I can play them whenever I so wish. I am also really worried about the future of advertising and I think that one day I may need to start relying on my NAS alone for streaming since most of the services may become unusable for people like us who are allergic to ads
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My Google Pixel is ad free. Come over to the light side.
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This continually surprises me, when I hear about people watching TV or movies, etc on their phone.
I tend to only watch TV shows or movies, etc on my real TVs at home that I paid good money for....4K, etc.
I mean, occasionally, when I'm on travel or out and about alone, I'll watch a bit on my iPad, but I just can't really watch much content on my tiny phone screen. Even the largest phone is tiny to me to actually sit and watch something more than 30 s
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Get an Android box. No ads. Smart Tube for ad-free YouTube, Kodi for everything else.
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I watch streaming services and don't have cable because I never want to see a single ad. If Apple starts pushing ads against my will on the phone or computer that I bought and paid for, I will never buy another Apple product.
Apparently you never were aware apple+google+intel and the rest have been planning to lock down your device and take us back to push programming.
See trusted computing here, 20+ years in the making, to get rid of publics ownership of their digital devices, aka "trusted computers" will not have root access to plaintext files/exe's in the future, this is the long term plan by arm and other in the industry to finally kill piracy and move to encrypted computing. They want a future of "services" where you perpet
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I don’t get it either. Last time I moved I ditched dozens of boxes full of CDs, DVDs, and VHS tapes save a few movies I really liked. Never looked back. Ended up freeing about half my garage.
Secondly, you don’t own the movies or music, you have a licensed copy.
The things you own end up owning you.
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I don’t get it either.
That's because your an idiot that wants to be able to be banned from the internet, over the last 23+ years the game industry has stolen PC games on a massive scale. Removing the networking code out of the exe and then selling it back to a stupid public as if it were a new type of game under the MMO brand, that's how steam/uplay/etc came to be.
AMd's Pluton is not for your "Security", it's there to engage in program extortion, aka they will start cutting features out of stuff and selling it back to you at in
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ah ok so while these games ship with networking code in them Intel, AMD and IBM have been using their new technology to break in to your computer to steal the networking code and then send you a bill for the code if you want it back thus selling it back to you.
Ahh yes the ac's of the world don't know much I should have known not to reply to a bunch of computer illiterates. Basically the world has been overpaying for software for 20 years, aka they wanted to kill off local executables. It also means you are under permanent surveillane to use your pc (aka every big AAA game requiring steam to use its multiplayer) where as the multiplayer just came inside the exe in the pre-steam days. That's why quake 1-3, half-life and warcrat 1-3, diablo 1-2, didn't have any
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BAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 20 year old prediction never eventuated, Year of the Linux Desktop is right around the corner too! Sad old fart desperately trying to stay relevant by shitposting his mindless drivel from 2 decades ago, :P
Yeah us old farts know you kids have the iq of jellyfish.
I'm sure AMD's pluton is not about DRM and being able to disable your software remotely and engage in software as a service, no siree, I'm sure they mean well and you'll gullibly lap up everything AMD/intel and the rest will throw your way.
In case you hadn't noticed, DRM/steam/mmo's didn't used to exist, when you bought a game it came with singleplayer+multiplayer+ability to host your own games, inside the same piece of software, it couldn't be shut
Re: Nothing would enrage me more (Score:1)
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Having test drove an Android device from March to the end of July, Android is sadly already there.
Yeah..Nah (Score:5, Insightful)
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Good luck. Google has started to disable old versions of Android. https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com].
If Apple starts to rely on ad revenue, they won't be far behind in resorting to this practice.
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After than, I am not answering the damned thing, and I will hopefully be busy making small steam engines as a hobby.
Got myself a Lathe, next I have for work on the wife so I can get a mill.
And I have a huge collection of old computers (1979s early 80s) to repair and about 3,000 books I need to catalog.
All they are doing is driving me way from engagement faster.
First set of adverts I see on Netflix, my account gets cancelled too.
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You might be interested in doing what we did: canceled Netflix and switched to Netflix DVD. They still have the full catalog that they've always had, not just Netflix's in-house stuff. And you can skip the previews.
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Yep, and if you click ANY link on the download pages that looks like what you want, but isn't, you now are infected with malware.
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It's just suckling at the teat of Google like all the desktop Linuxes suckle at the teat of RedHat.
More of by linuxes over the years have been based on the debian core than redhat.
Although I did have an mandrake install back in 2003.
But I've had a lot more Ubuntu and children (including mint) lately, and in between Gentoo, which is a stepchild of slackware.
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Android users can easy block ads by simply installing and using Blokada [blokada.org] . It is a local proxy that blocks most of the ads. You can also use firefox with ublock origin and number of other browsers with ad blocking. But Blokada blocks most of the ads even in apps. That is why it was not allowed in app store.
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Android 2.3 Gingerbread is only old in "Android years" kind of like dog years. It was released in 2010, just 12 years ago. My car was made in 2006, and still works just fine. My house was build in 1993, and it's not even considered "old." My bedside alarm clock was made in 1990.
One way or another, you're not going to be able to keep using your old, tracking-free version of Android - or IOS - forever.
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Good luck. Google has started to disable old versions of Android.
That is literally a 10 year old OS. More than enough time for a company to do something stupid, see it's mistake and revert.
To know how long 10 years is, remember Netflix didn't even exist in many markets 10 years ago, and had subscriber numbers which would today be considered a complete and total failure in the streaming space.
You'd be wise never to make any assumption about what will happen in the tech space in the next 10 years.
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You speak as if 10 years were a long time! My car is 16 years old. My bedside alarm clock is 25. Only in the world of smartphones and apps is 10 years considered a "long time."
The original suggestion in this thread was that one could avoid Apple's newfound tracking just by refusing updates. That might work for a few years, but in 10 or less, you'd likely be completely out of luck.
Windows 8 start menu did it first! (Score:1)
FU (Score:2)
Fuck off
Paying for premium (Score:2)
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damned if you do & damned if you don't (Score:2)
Linux (Score:2)
or just install some GNU/Linux on your phone.
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You betcha. I have a Pinephone with Manjaro that I use not as a phone but as a micro-portable, but it's convinced me -- if I ever pay for another smartphone, I'll go this route. Completely free of Shit I Didn't Put There and Fucking Intrusive Ads. What an experience!
Love this. (Score:2)
Ha, similar here!
Run SailfishOS on my daily driver, and Pinphone Pro is on my TODO next buy list.
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I use PCLinuxOS with KDE on some of my PCs, and it's become my go-to replacement for Win10 (if Win10 misbehaves at all, into the bit bucket it goes). And I like KDE/Plasma and the K-Apps, in fact I run some of 'em on Windows. So having KDE on a phone is very appealing.
I have the Pine keyboard with mine so it's a complete micro-portable, and for as small as it is, it's quite a nice keyboard. Stuff is slow to load, but once going is snappy enough. Still has its quirks (mostly the top row of the keyboard is sl
Just when you thought that iPhones were expensive (Score:2)
now ads...
Really destroys the value proposition (Score:3)
It is amazing just how useless many of the apps have become between ads and sponsorship. The stock app is now so miserable that I have just switched to a web page that I have ads blocked on. These apps start to have a negative value, and before too long the whole platform follows suite.
Its up to the consumer (Score:1)
NEXT! (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it's time that companies learn that forcing ads on your customers devalues your product. If you think that this devaluation of your product is less than what you gain by ad revenue, go ahead.
But don't expect me to stay.
Apple, you're tarnishing a brand. A brand that lives and basically exists on being cool and fancy. Having to watch ads is not fancy. It's what all the plebs have to do who are stuck with their boring, normal services. You certainly don't want to become that, because that would remove your hip and cool air.
And at this point, that's all that's left for you. Yes, your company used to make innovative gadgets. But that died along with Jobs. Now, you're living off the air of superiority and exclusivity. The style. Your substance has left the building with the demise of Jobs. Ads drag you down to the commoner status. And that would, if not kill, then certainly lethally wound your brand.
Re: NEXT! (Score:2)
Apple cares about revenue and expects its user base to be so embedded in the platform that they cannot switch - the cost of doing so will be too high
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Apple cares about revenue and expects its user base to be so embedded in the platform that they cannot switch - the cost of doing so will be too high
Pretty much this. They've worked hard to keep their user base locked in.
Apple are, and have always been, as cool and edgy as a Toyota Camry if the Camry wasn't the worlds most reliable car.
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That's not possible, I'm not watching it at all.
Small wonder (Score:3)
" Apple has internally tested search ads in Maps, which could display recommendations when you search for restaurants, stores, or other nearby businesses. "
That's why we use Google Maps.
I thought (Score:2)
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So much for "we don't track you like Google" (Score:2)
I mean, internet ads are basically worthless without tracking. You know they're going to do it. They'll describe their "special" approach in terms that make it sound like they are using some kind of "anonymous" tracking mechanism. But in reality, tracking it will be.
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You're not wrong. But when I say "useless" I mean "useless from the advertiser's point of view." They want and expect to be able to select specific categories of people to whom to target their ads. They aren't interested in advertising to random users. So follow the money, if Apple chooses to start pursuing ads, they will track, because that is what their customers (the ad buyers) want.
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They have always tracked you just like Google, they just haven't used the gathered data for anything, until now (and their previous ad adventure).
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they just haven't used the gathered data for anything, until now
Oh you are a trusting one, aren't you!
and their previous ad adventure
Even though you know they've already gone there and admitted it!
Die in a fire (Score:2)
Yes, die in a fire, you fucking ad-whores.
Privacy first⦠(Score:3)
O god apple no (Score:5, Informative)
No. Please no no no. I get that you have to evolve, but please consider what Jobs and Ive would say about raking in a few extra bucks this way. If you let the accountants and business bros dictate policy, they will happily burn down your company’s long term future for a slight bump in next quarter earnings.
This is a bad bad bad bad idea.
How to alienate your customers for dummies (Score:2)
Everyone can destroy their customer trust in return for a few pennies now!
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Where else will the Apple fans go? Apple knows it has them hooked.
Innovation! (Score:2)
Does it matter practically? (Score:3)
Does anyone actually use Apple's second / third rate built-in apps? I have an iPhone but all the Apple apps are relegated to a folder named "unused cruft".
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Classic Slashdot. (Score:1)
Random journalist: "In my opinion as an outsider who doesn't actually speak for Apple at all, I totally reckon one day Apple could eventually do this."
Shitdot: "Make sure the headline makes it look like this has already happened, but leave in the words "could eventually" and "believes" in the lede"
Shitdotters: "I didn't bother to RTFMA before commenting but hurr durr Apple"
Re: Classic Slashdot. (Score:2)
This is AWESOME! (Score:1)
Rarely bought from AD I've seen (Score:2)
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I hadn't seen ads in about 20 years, then one of the *ahem* streaming services that I use got sloppy about cutting ads... OMG, are people really this dumb? I can't even tell what half of these ads are FOR; they're just exercises in marketdroid masturbation.
Oddly, the few actually-interesting-product ads are straightforward and informative, rather than trying to catch my attention with sitcom-level antics.
I conclude that the stupider the ad, the less I want to even know what it's for, let alone buy their pro
Whatâ(TM)s the alternative? (Score:2)
"Now the only question is whether the customers of Apple â" a champion of privacy and clean interfaces â" are ready to live with a lot more ads."
I mean, whatâ(TM)s the alternative? Weâ(TM)ll take those ads and fucking like it -_-