Apple's Ad Service - lets look at tracking

I have already said, that the services pie is gong to grow a lot bigger for Apple and advertisement is going to be one of the major drivers for this.

By this point in time, I have written a couple of times talking about Apple's stance on privacy (which I like) and Apple's Ad service which can give Google and Meta a run for their money (which I like too). But to build a successful ad service, one has to undertand behaviors and patterns of users to server them with the right ad.

Proton is a privacy company. Recenlty they published a blog that breaks down how Apple's tracking works.  

Apple currently brings in roughly $4 billion from advertising(new window) and is forecasted to bring in as much as $30 billion by 2026(new window). While these amounts are an order of magnitude smaller than the $210 billion Google made from its ad services, they represent a change in philosophy for Apple, which only earned around $300 million for ads in 2017(new window).

I have already said, that the services pie is gong to grow a lot bigger for Apple and advertisement is going to be one of the major drivers for this.

On Nov. 20, a pair of iOS developers known as Mysk(new window) discovered that Apple has a specific identifier (a “directory services identifier” or DSID) for every Apple iCloud account. It uses DSID to collect detailed information about your behavior in Apple apps and the App Store, and there’s no way for you to turn it off.

Being a product manager or someone who builds products, I have no problem with building such a product and collecting informaiton to make the product better. BUT, one must give the option to the user to turn this off.

Give the blog and the embedded tweets a read.

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Jamie Larson
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