Hacker News Reader

Comment by GeekyBear | Hacker News Reader

The interesting thing about iAd was that it failed because Apple refused to sell out everyone's privacy.

>According to advertisers, both Apple and Amazon have levels of detail about customers that would be extremely attractive to ad agencies, but refuse to hand it over, citing privacy concerns.

In Apple's case, the sheer volume of information it has about its users frustrates advertisers because they can't access it. One unnamed source said that in terms of attractiveness to potential advertisers, Apple is "the best-looking girl at the party, forced to wear a bag over her head."

https://www.infopackets.com/news/8939/advertisers-amazon-app...

View on HN

I think this is all FUD spread by the existing advertising companies. I recall reading here on HN several times that the pervasive tracking and "personalization" doesn't really increase conversion rates all that much; targeting the ad based on the content it's being presented with is generally more than good enough. (For example, if someone is reading an article about DIY home improvement, show ads for power tools.)

It just feels like these companies are addicted to the power of tracking people all over the internet, even if they'd do just fine if they weren't able to do that. So any time an ad platform comes up that attempts to respect privacy, they get all up in arms and spread misinformation about how it will destroy their industry.

Metaphor is on-brand for advertisers. Maybe she wears the bag to go about her life unmolested by advertisers.

Apple users need to be ready to leave the platform if they sell out, and to make this clear.

Their streak of blunders(1) has already made it challenging to convince myself to give them money this upgrade season. Polluting my experience with even more(2) ads has a really great chance of being the final straw.

1: mismanagement of bug bounty program, declining software quality, ham fisted CSAM efforts, endless series of App Store fiascos... off the top of my head right now.

2: their push notifications pushing [to me] useless services, noise in the Settings.app, parading Apple Music all over iTunes Store, Maps.app editor's picks seem like glorified ads, App Store search is both useless and has ads. It's already bad.

Things I'd want to consider at are 3rd party app support, privacy and security.

Where to you think would be the right place to move to right now?

Last time I asked I was told that Linux based phone software is still a bit work in progress and the Google stripped Android distros are both a bit DIY and also unverified privacy wise.

It’s tough. For laptops there are decent options but anything Android as you say is either half baked or much more of a privacy tire fire than Apple.

Mobile has been profoundly user hostile in the slimiest possible ways for many years. It’s about surveillance and addiction. Apple has been the only moderately acceptable option, but I don’t trust them completely and I do suspect they will eventually sell out.

The market for privacy focused phones is tiny both because most people don’t care and because they would have to be more expensive. They are not being subsidized by surveillance.

I am so happy that the mobile paradigm has not been able to invade desktop very much. It’s horrible and dystopian and we at least need to keep it at bay.

On other words it's a question of money (as in:do we make more by using said data ourselves vs. selling it) and a way to change course without loosing users (an uproar is OK, as long as churn is to high).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com