Apple is using their dominant (monopoly) position in mobile devices to shut down competitors in another industry (advertising) in order to drive growth in their own advertising platform, got it.
Apple is already advertising on the App Store, significantly hurting the experience. Excited to see how they're going to kill their biggest advantage over other platforms (basic respect for the user in certain areas).
This is an excellent 3-part series on Apple, ATT, and how they robbed the ad mob:<p><pre><code> - https://mobiledevmemo.com/apple-robbed-the-mobs-bank/
- https://mobiledevmemo.com/apple-robbed-the-mobs-bank-part-2/
- https://mobiledevmemo.com/apple-robbed-the-mobs-bank-part-3/
</code></pre>
Also the job posting for Senior Manager for DSP (Demand-Side Platform) was probably supposed to be Antonio Garica Martinez before he got hired/fired/offer rescinded.<p><pre><code> - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Garc%C3%ADa_Mart%C3%ADnez_%28author%29</code></pre>
I wish someone would explain in simple terms what a demand-side platform is. If you are assumed to be fluent in ad business speak to work in the technology field that is kind of a depressing commentary.
So was Apple being disingenuous this whole time about privacy? Presuming they plan on using all the data they capture from their users iDevices for their ad platform. Is there a way to opt out of that?
I'm a little confused by this author feeling like they are pulling back the curtain on Apple & Ads. Apple hasn't been anti-ad (though their products have way fewer ads than the competition. I installed Windows on a new machine yesterday and oh boy I was not prepared) but rather they are pro-privacy. Their recent crackdown on ad networks wasn't "we hate ads so we are going it make harder" but instead it was "you all are leaking customer data like a sieve and that's not ok".<p>The problem with most all the ad networks out there is they are not good stewards of their data and will sell it (directly or indirectly) to anyone with the money to buy it. Personally I hate ads but I understand their place in the world and if I have to see ads I trust Apple way more than Google or whatever fly-by-night ad tracking company is out there. The problem has always been that the advertisers had way more access to the info about the customer (and sometimes the customer's PII/unique id) than I was comfortable with and they would share that indiscriminately. If Apple is the one holding that info and if they design their system in a way that protects it then I don't personally see this as a problem.
To some degree, I trust both Apple and Google but for different reasons. Apple is pushing privacy tools, and within limits of government suponenas they do a reasonable job. Google has a business of using your data to advise advertisers how to sell you stuff, but if you go on Google’s privacy settings page you have a fair amount of control. Personally, I let Google track my YouTube use for 90 days in order to make good suggestions and turn almost everything else off (Google makes money from me from buying content, paying for YouTube, and GCP).<p>I really respect people who self-host their own data platforms, etc. but I don’t have time for that.
I feel the Apple I used to like would say "Why would we bother making an ad platform? It's a boring problem and ads only make the experience worse"
There are two outcomes:<p>1. It isn't terribly successful and dies a quiet death as do a lot of non-consumer Apple initiatives<p>2. It's wildly successful and Apple shifts its focus to the pursuit of ad revenue...which will gradually erode privacy controls and the pristine experience Apple is known for.<p>This may sound like hyperbole, but if this takes off, then we'll look back on this as where it all went wrong for Apple.
> “Our platform runs and delivers advertising auctions to match supply (customers) with demand (advertisers), focusing on technical components including Campaign Management, Bidding, Incrementality, Dynamic Creative Optimization, Matching, Auctions, and Experimentation<p>Silly me, I thought that in a supply/demand scenario you are meant to pay your suppliers, not just harvest what you need from them without spending a cent.
Monetization of everything.
I don't know about you, but for me it was obvious from day one. Amassing a huge heap of personal data, bar access to it for all competitors and not to exploit it themselves means to leave a tremendous pile of cache on the table. Shareholders won't understand that. Apple just badly needs revenue to justify its' 10 years exponential growth.
> Whoever gets the job will be asked to “drive the design of the most privacy-forward, sophisticated demand side platform possible,” per the post.<p>Why would someone who can do that go to apple, instead of launching her own company? Has it become impossible to build new things on the internet independently now?
I, for one, would welcome an Apple attempt to create a better digital advertising paradigm focused on users and that respects/protects privacy as much as possible.<p>As an optimistic college freshman in 2000 (dating myself, I know), I had the privilege of taking a class where once a week, a successful business entrepreneur would come in and expand our minds about a company/product/vision they had created.<p>Being the height of dot com frenzy, I still remember one class where a guy described how the Internet offered the potential to revolutionize advertising in a way that would be a win-win for everyone. He described a world where ads might even be enjoyable to watch because of the Internet’s potential to show each viewer/user ads relevant to them: because every beard trimmer ad shown to a woman was wasted time for her and money for the advertiser.<p>So far, his predictions have broadly become true, but stick with me.<p>The coolest part of his vision to my 18yo self was that each of us would have a personal ad software agent running on our PC/TV (the most personal devices at the time) that learned our desires and went out and found ads for stuff we might want. It was a completely different paradigm to the ad model of the day and one that was potentially privacy protecting because your personal ad agent would be the automated broker for your time and attention, and everyone would want this because a good agent would delight you with new services and products that you found useful and maybe didn’t know you wanted. There would be a healthy market of personal agents to choose from, too, because the costs of switching were minimal and companies would complete to create the best personal agents.<p>Alas, the optimism of the early Internet morphed into magic Google and Facebook/Meta pixels, and we got personal ad agents, but they are oligopolies with extreme network effects that are incompatible with privacy.<p>The Brave browser has come closest to the vision described by the dot com entrepreneur who spoke to my class, but I’ve always wondered whether anyone else would create personal ad agents, and of all the candidates, Apple is probably best positioned. I’m curious to see how they do it.
It is wild that Apple even slightly risks their platforms with ads. They have always been tasteful with the small amount of ads they allow, but why even risk it?<p>I wonder if this is to offer a free tier of AppleTV and Apple Music. whole DSP would not really be required if it was just for something like the App Store. Typically a DSP is for something like TV and radio.
So I like Apple a lot. Given there are only two choices of phone (iOS or Android), IMHO Apple is <i>way</i> better than Google in terms of privacy.<p>Apple sent shockwaves through the ad industry by making third-party ad cookies opt-in [1]. This has a material impact on, for example, Facebook's business, arguably to tune of $10 billion [2].<p>So a demand-side platform ("DSP") would be an incredibly significant move by Apple. A DSP is really one side of the coin of programmatic or real-time bidding ("RTB"). The other side is the exchange of supply side platform ("SSP"). RTB exchanges started as a way of selling remnant inventory in the display advertising space but have grown significantly since then.<p>But why this is significant is that the big player in display advertising is Google and the centerpiece for that is the Doubleclick Ad Exchange.<p>So Apple could be positioning itself to take a shot at Google's dominance of this space just like they have been doing to Facebook.<p>If so, Apple needs to be <i>incredibly</i> careful here because if they offer advantages to their own DSP or exchange they may well run afoul of anticompetitive behaviour.<p>Disclaimer: Ex-Googler (and I worked on the Doubleclick Ad Exchange many, many years ago).<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-26/how-apple-google-are-killing-the-advertising-cookie-quicktake" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-26/how-apple...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/02/facebook-says-apple-ios-privacy-change-will-cost-10-billion-this-year.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/02/facebook-says-apple-ios-priv...</a>
Listen to Mike Munger on Econtalk<p><a href="https://www.econtalk.org/michael-munger-on-antitrust/" rel="nofollow">https://www.econtalk.org/michael-munger-on-antitrust/</a>
If Apple is forced to allow 3rd party app stores or the installation of unsigned IPAs, does that mean browsers running different engines can be developed for iOS?
I feel Apple have tried this numerous times in different flavors before.<p>Just stick to what you do best. Let Google and social networks poison our minds with ads.
If you think Apple cares about privacy after the CSAM thing, I really don't understand why, yes they are a bit better than other big tech companies, but they are in no way "Privacy-respecting".<p>This video might help.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r38Epj6ldKU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r38Epj6ldKU</a>
> Sources within Apple, a company notoriously shy of making public statements, have briefed media outlets with news of more advertising opportunities for those eager to promote their wares in the App Store.<p>> The planned ad placements include two additional slots in the App Store with a promotional placement on its “Today” tab where the paid-for slots will feature alongside editorialized content. The other planned ad placement will feature on app product pages where ads will be served under a tab that reads “You Might Also Like.”<p>We'll see if Apple's ad efforts extend beyond the App Store but even so, the incentives here are all fucked up. Why bother making App Store search better and cleaning up spam/scam apps when these problems enable a new revenue stream in the form of paid placements?<p>Incidentally, is the App Store yet another venue where you need to buy ad placement for your own product's name lest it be taken over by your competitors?
As an actual DSP (Digital Signal Processing) person I can only manage
a weary sigh at what looks like dog poop all over the tidy lawn of my
acronym space.
We will deliver your cheeseburger momentarily, but first we will flap this prostitute's filthy junk in your face.<p>How did the toxic apocalypse of ubiquitous advertising become so normal? I can only blame the slowly boiled frog.
I do not understand what a demand-side platform is and the article does a terrible job of explaining it. Something to do with ads?<p>Pretty sure they just made this phrase up for the article.
I'm so sick of big tech.<p>They own the platform. Keep us locked in the platform. Then sell our minds to advertisers.<p>Incumbents can't grow any larger without eating their users eventually. Maybe with proper antitrust action we would see a new generation of healthy upstarts. New search engines, new devices, new everything.<p>The forest needs a fire.