[HN Gopher] Apple's sleeping advertising business
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Apple's sleeping advertising business
Author : azizsaya
Score : 30 points
Date : 2022-10-23 19:29 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thespl.it)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thespl.it)
| georgebarnett wrote:
| Advertising isn't the problem - it's how and where it's presented
| and how that influences the rest of the system.
|
| As Apple continues to deploy ads across their platform and where
| they "stop" will be a good indicator of their current taste and
| if it survived their long expansion without Steve Jobs at the
| helm.
| marcosdumay wrote:
| I am still waiting to see any company that goes into the
| advertising business ever deciding to stop at some point.
| amelius wrote:
| > it's how and where it's presented and how that influences the
| rest of the system.
|
| 1. I use my computer when I'm working.
|
| 2. When I'm working, I don't want to be distracted.
|
| Where does that leave Apple's ad business?
| qwerty456127 wrote:
| I will do everything I can to see no ads (paying is Okay, but
| Apple products already cost quite a lot so asking for more money
| would look like a paid toilet in an expensive restaurant) and
| will just leave the platform whatever I was using as soon as it
| insists I watch ads and leaves no escape hatches. The only kind
| of ads I don't mind are outdoor billboards.
| keepquestioning wrote:
| I'm out if this happens.
| LegitShady wrote:
| to where though?
| amelius wrote:
| If necessary a homemade RISC-V board attached to a display
| panel found on AliExpress.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| AOSP-derived Android distributions running on well-supported
| hardware, the same route taken by those who want to escape
| Google. Get your software from places like F-Droid, don't
| install spyware from the likes of
| Google/Metafacebook/Microsoft/Apple/etc, run your own
| services on your own hardware where possible or hitch a ride
| on some friend or family member's services. This works, it
| offers all the useable bells and whistles you might want
| without having your data mined by parasites.
|
| No ads.
| keepquestioning wrote:
| PinePhone?
| braingenious wrote:
| I think it's a bit funny that the author seems completely
| convinced that Apple will certainly create their own search
| service. If I were Apple, I would happily keep accepting the
| billions of dollars from Google in exchange for a dearly setting
| that costs virtually no money to implement.
|
| Also as an aside, is it just me or is Apple News+ a downright
| _dreadful_ offering? I'll be browsing regular Apple News and it
| will decide to throw a paywall in front of content from The
| Atlantic or Vanity Fair etc.
|
| Every time I just pull up that article for free in my browser and
| I'm mystified that anyone would get tricked into paying for
| freely available content.
| pxue wrote:
| Apple isn't stupid enough to go all out on ads. At the core,
| they're still a "premium" product company that sells $450 pair of
| headphones because it plays nice with their other $1000+
| products.
|
| All they need to do is release a new peripheral and it's a
| $10-15B per year business in 5 years.
| [deleted]
| seydor wrote:
| > Apple's advertising business will layer on top of all Apple's
| existing products and have extremely high margins
|
| Afaik increased competition reduces margins. And this only
| applies to the US (Apple is a minority everywhere else). Even if
| they think they got the 'premium' consumers locked, their reach
| is small for ad campaigns
| jonas21 wrote:
| One point the article makes is that Apple's strategy around
| privacy allows it to eliminate competition for its ad business.
|
| > _Apple first spent years telling us how much it respects
| consumer privacy... In the name of consumer privacy, it was
| able to box out competitors from using its first party device
| data, giving itself exclusive access to better target ads_
| seydor wrote:
| ... in its own devices
|
| it would also be schizophrenic if apple didn't have to abide
| by the rules it proudly imposes on others
| thakoppno wrote:
| Anyone else experience a garden-path sentence phenomenon and
| expected an article about REM sleep ad placement?
| nicolashahn wrote:
| This was the reason for iOS handicapping app's ad tracking, not
| "privacy"
| AJRF wrote:
| The recent approach to advertising services and the moves they
| are making detailed in this article have me asking the question,
| what is the point in paying the Apple premium these days?
| rrwo wrote:
| You purchase a lifestyle signifier. It's the tech equivalent of
| wearing Gucci.
| doublepg23 wrote:
| Until they kill the SE I think luxury goods comparisons are
| silly. It's not like flagship Android devices are cheap
| either.
| alexwasserman wrote:
| That Apple could do it doesn't mean they will, and the article
| doesn't present much actual evidence it will.
|
| In Apple long-running saga with Ads it's always seemed like Apple
| hates ads because it's other companies content (and so
| priorities, aesthetic, and feel) jammed inside an Apple product.
| And Apple hates anything that ruins the Apple Experience :tm:
|
| Paying to be the first App Store entry is great, because it's
| Apple showing off the normal Apple content (an app card) within a
| search list of app cards.
|
| But in an app that cuts to some cheap, ugly, non-Apple aesthetic
| ad - that's pretty unappealing and ruins the Apple Experience.
|
| It's tougher to craft that Apple type experience while also
| selling out.
|
| I think they're also aware of the implicit value to their
| business of being the non-Ad driven eco-system. It's all part of
| being premium. Selling to the users who also pay for Netflix
| premium, Hulu ad-free, etc. It's built into their business model.
|
| In some ways it's been like that for years - PC laptops come
| coated in ads from the Intel Inside stickers and pre-installed
| crapwear, to the design and logos on the product boxes
| themselves.
|
| I'm reminded of this: https://youtu.be/EUXnJraKM3k
|
| I think Apple sorta, maybe wants Ads because it's so lucrative,
| but also recognizes those challenges are real, and tough, and
| destroy their brand quickly.
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| They have a turnkey plan b for the next CEO or if they have a
| bad quarter or two. You better believe they'll use it if they
| need to show growth.
| tpush wrote:
| Counterpoint: The Apple News app. Even of you're a _paying_
| ($10!) subscriber, the app is full of absolutely awful
| advertisement.
|
| The current culture of Apple produced this app; it wouldn't
| surprise me if other properties of Apple start to embed ads.
| alexwasserman wrote:
| Interesting, thank you. News is one of the apps I never use,
| sticking to NetNewsWire+Feedly.
|
| I'd hope that ends up in the category of "tried it, failed,
| phase it out/down", but maybe not.
|
| I especially hate ads in paid-for subscriptions.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| There are embedded ads in Xcode now:
|
| https://twitter.com/niw/status/1577955010167508992
|
| Now granted, it's to upsell a service that's integrated with
| the product you're using, but it goes to show Apple products no
| longer simply sell themselves without intrusive ads.
| prvit wrote:
| > but it goes to show Apple products no longer simply sell
| themselves without intrusive ads.
|
| Is that ad really more intrusive than all the TV ads Apple
| has run over the years?
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Those, and the iOS settings embedded ads, and the News+
| notifications are also intrusive and irritating.
|
| I don't even think it's indicative of Apple products
| slipping in quality. I think they're just so services
| oriented these days product discoverability is difficult,
| but also modern Apple has no shame marketing from within.
| jonas21 wrote:
| > Paying to be the first App Store entry is great, because it's
| Apple showing off the normal Apple content (an app card) within
| a search list of app cards.
|
| The most lucrative ad-supported site in the world (Google
| search) also shows normal-looking paid content at the top of a
| list of search results. Apple doesn't need to accept ugly
| banner ads to build an enormous ad business.
| ipsum2 wrote:
| It's so normal-looking, its hard to tell the difference
| between paid and regular content!
| jonplackett wrote:
| Apple adding ads to the AppStore was a terrible idea. Not because
| I hate seeing ads, but as a developer I hate it.
|
| I've made some apps that have had millions of downloads that I
| launched with no ad spend whatsoever, just good old fashioned
| viral growth. It got a tonne of copycats but that was OK because
| I just made the app better in response.
|
| Now, your app is competing against all the inevitable copycats -
| but those copycats can now just outspend you on ads. They no
| longer have to make a better product, just have a bigger budget.
| People are lazy and download the first result a lot of the time.
|
| AppStore search is famously awful enough as it is, ads make it
| even worse.
| musicale wrote:
| It's also a lousy user experience since the bogus ad app shows
| up at the top of the page and eats up screen space, especially
| on a phone.
|
| > People are lazy and download the first result a lot of the
| time.
|
| If people need something right away, they're unlikely to want
| to spend time evaluating a bunch of alternatives.
| jackjeff wrote:
| It's just made the App Store unusable. Even exact name search
| is fraught with peril.
|
| I just Google things instead now.
|
| I feel like this is what is going to happen for every product
| Apple will infest with ads.
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