Based on Apple’s job postings I’m beginning to suspect their stance on ads and tracking was nothing more than a clever ruse to weaken competitors while they build their own a personalized ad business for iOS:
They also just hired Facebook’s first ads targeting product manager to work for their ad platform. I don’t think Apple ads won’t be limited to the App Store within a couple years.
It's never been a matter of ads, it's always been about tracking. Ads just happen to be the vector in which tracking is default included, as is well, other tracking scripts around the web and via mobile SDKs.
What Apple's doing here is trying to undercut in a serious way the ability for everyone to be able to do the kind of granular tracking we have today all over the place.
I'm not shocked they're building / expanding an ads division. The real key is this: will their ads be served up with the kind of granular, identifiable tracking we have today? My gut feeling is no, it won't be[0]
[0]: As an aside, I want to note the following:
When I say tracking or speak of it in this context, I do not mean simple metrics, like how many page views did this get compared to Ad B? That is the kind of, well, tracking, that can be done in a way that isn't privacy invasive (and should never be invasive), akin to A/B testing. Technically, error logs are a form of tracking, if we want to be pedantic. Instead, I to point out that I'm talking about granular tracking data that can be used to identify a person or granular set of data that can sort people into unique groups that then make it easy to identify them. The real quandary here of course, is that in some cases Facebook, Amazon, Google and others have enough data to actually be able to say oh hey, this is no_wizard, not some other person. Thats a huge part of this problem, however, its also not always the case that they can harvest enough data to be able to do that. The other, often overlooked issue by many (particularly those that don't follow this sort of thing. Not likely your average HN reader but probably most people you know, is that they also have the heustristic data that confidently sort people into little groups, and they are constantly continuing this narrowing. So instead of saying hey, this is no_wizard they can say, well, looks like someone who identifies as no_wizard believes in these causes, has these purchasing habits, and has seen these ads, along with x people from Y area, lets put them in Z group
I know people get upset (ever so rightly) about being personally tracked, but both issues need to be systemically addressed. Its not about ads, its about what ads became, and through that we now have this kind of detailed tracking all over the place, from mobile SDKs to CLIs to most popular websites.
I would welcome an Apple Ads platform that went against all this and could prove it
I would even go further and say that Apple doesn't care about anything other than making money by making good products. As more and more people begin to be concerned about privacy, Apple takes steps to try to reassure them that the phone is still a safe platform in which they can store private information such as photos, personal messages, address books, banking information, etc. Neither does Apple want a lot of annoying requests for tracking from interfering with their UI. For them, it is all about improving the experience of using the phone, nothing more.
But there is no core value that is anti-tracking or anti-ad, and all of these policies can be reversed the moment they no longer post a threat to people's enjoyment of Apple products.
I don't think Apple's "pro-privacy" stance is solely about improving the experience about using their products. They're certainly very aware a focus on privacy and security makes a great product differentiator for them, but from all appearances, it's not just fluff when Apple executives say they believe privacy is a fundamental right. I'm not intending to be Pollyannaish about Apple specifically, either; I think most companies have some set of core values distinct from profit-seeking, and will try and stick by them as long as (a) the profit-seeking and the values don't come into serious conflict, and (b) the executives at the top continue to believe in those values.
So I don't think those policies are in danger of being reversed based on "threat to enjoyment"; I think they're more in danger of being reversed based on "measurable threat to profit" somewhere down the road -- but probably most in danger of being reversed, long-term, by executive shuffle.
https://i.imgur.com/y1s9F4J
They also just hired Facebook’s first ads targeting product manager to work for their ad platform. I don’t think Apple ads won’t be limited to the App Store within a couple years.