Facebook finally finds something it thinks is truly objectionable and needs to be taken offline: Apple
- Reference: 1611813491
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/01/28/facebook_attacks_apple_privacy/
- Source link:
That bad thing is Apple. Especially Apple's new privacy controls that make it harder for Facebook to sell ads.
[1]
Facebook named Apple in with a slightly unusual document containing [2]lengthy prepared remarks [PDF] ahead of its Q4 2021 earnings call and alongside its results announcement.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg's section of the remarks repeats the [3]claim that Apple's iOS 14 will rob small businesses of the chance to use Facebook's targeted advertising.
[4]
"I do want to highlight that we increasingly see Apple as one of our biggest competitors," he told investors, before criticising the security of Apple's iMessage service on grounds that it "stores non-end-to-end encrypted backups of your messages by default unless you disable iCloud". That arrangement, Zuckerberg said, means Apple and law enforcement agencies can read user messages.
Apple aims to be the ripple in the pond that moves the whole industry forward
Zuckerberg also declared that Apple enjoys a "dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work, which they regularly do to preference their own." Which Zuck thinks is bad for small business.
The CEO argued that Facebook isn't just trying to protect its own patch with its many efforts to turn WhatsApp into an e-commerce platform but is instead advocating for the entire economy and its prospects of a post-pandemic snap-back. Apple, by contrast, is accused of advocating only for Apple.
This argument consumed 2,800 words and was pitched as a discussion of "aspects of business strategy that I think are important for investors to understand."
As luck would have it, Apple also announced its earnings today and revealed that its first quarter for FY 2021 saw it win $111.4bn of revenue, the company's record for a quarter, the first occasion it cracked $100bn, and a year-over-year jump of 21 per cent. Sales of all Apple's products and services jumped, with the iPhone's 17 per cent growth rather wan compared to the 41 per cent jump for iPads, the 21 per cent clocked up by the Mac, and the 30 per cent year-over-year improvement in wearables and home kit.
Apple has a dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work
CEO Tim Cook also made some remarks about Apple's approach to privacy, saying the company aims "to be the ripple in the pond that moves the whole industry forward." The requirement to inform users of apps that track them – to which Facebook objects – will appear in coming months.
Facebook clearly sees Apple's ripples as eroding the environment, rather than offering an opportunity to catch a wave.
The social network also posted solid results, even if its annual total of $84.17bn revenue was less than Apple's quarterly total. Facebook revenue rose 21 per cent compared to its previous full year, while its Q4 haul of $27.2bn was 31 per cent up compared to last year's effort. Quarterly net income was $11.2bn and the full-year result was $29.15bn. Apple's Q1 net income was just $400m behind that figure.
[5]
The gap between the two on matters of privacy is clearly far wider. ®
Get our [6]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBKZReafoCDKOfxeKro4mgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2020/q4/FB-Q4-2020-Prepared-Remarks.pdf
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/16/facebook_apple_privacy/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBKZReafoCDKOfxeKro4mgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBKZReafoCDKOfxeKro4mgAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Amazing
Rarely do I find myself siding with Apple, but I am firmly behind them on this one. I have recently deleted the facebook and messenger apps from my phone and will not be reinstalling them anytime soon, I am fed up with that cesspool of hate and misinformation.
It's about time that they face consequences for their despicable behavior and be forced to moderate their nuthouse of a social network.
Re: Amazing
ironically I might actually install the Facebook app on my iPad *after* this comes into effect, no chance of it before. (At the moment strictly only use it in Firefox's Facebook Container.)
Yeah Zuck, what's your point?
CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s section of the remarks repeats the claim that Apple’s iOS 14 will rob small business of the chance to use Facebook’s targeted advertising.
Not every small business wants to have their good name dragged through Facebook... And isn't this Google's side of the street? Ads?
I wonder who would win if you put Zuck and Cook in the Arena (think Kirk and Spock) who would win?
Re: Yeah Zuck, what's your point?
I'm curious as to what type of small business actually really wants/needs to use targeted advertising?
Re: Yeah Zuck, what's your point?
one of my wife's businesses uses it, only because the previous owner\operator started the biz and used FB because he didn't know any better. She is slowly moving away from it. She has already dropped Gooble Enterprise (ha funny typo!) Google Enterprise.
So I can say that small business that didn't know better 5-8 years ago signed up... and regret it.
Weasel words
How many weasel words can one company come out with on one occasion?
Quite a few it would seem.
Way, way into the distance is where Zuck should fuck off.
What no "Cupertino idiot-tax"? What is going on at the Reg?
It's very generous of FB and, in another thread, Google to give Apple so much free advertising. Ironic, really. I I were in the market for a phone and willing to pay anywhere near Apple's prices this could tip the decision in their favour. And it's not even targeted advertising.
My thoughts exactly. Good on Apple to tighten up privacy. Then again, they can afford it because their customer, i.e. the ones paying, are the end users of their iGadgets. Stands to reason that Apple will want to protect their customers from external data-vacuumers (and putting aside for a moment the fact that Apple wants it's customers inside it's walled garden so it alone can suck in the juicy juicy revenues)
With FB and Google, their customers i.e. the ones paying, are the advertisers. Their users are their product, which they sell to advertisers, who in turn are willing to pay more to target their ads. And for G and FB to be able to sell that product, they need to hoover up as much data as possible. The users are paying for their 'free' FB and G services with their data and implicit or explicit agreement to be data-harvested and ad-targeted..
There is no free lunch
Billions of people enjoy facebook, lots of interest groups, possibility to sell things using free advertisements.
The fact that it also contains dirt, doesn't devalue the platform, dirt is everywhere for those willing to look for it.
Ads are the lifeblood of "free" services like facebook, it is easy to rant about it how bad that all is.
Let the one knowing a way to fund the billions to offer free services on a global level without deploying targeted ads, step forward.
Apple fencing off ads from other platforms is just another example of the private garden they created for them selves, business wise they are right to do so, since their mostly higher income customers are pure gold for targeted adds creating more revenue for Apple.
Apple are not stopping anything
They are requiring data harvesting to be declared (in advance) so that people can decide if they are happy to allow it. Facebook doesn't like this, as most users install apps and accept all the default settings (so lots of data) - they will now get asked things like "Is it ok for Facebook to grab your contact list"?
@naive
Your post would suggest that your user name is highly appropriate - well done for choosing so, erm, wisely!
Dear Zuck. Fuck off.
For you to complain that Apple is preventing you from making even bigger piles of money because they have the audacity to try & protect our privacy is enough to make me want to see you beaten the shit out of by monkies armed with cattle prods.
I don't have a FaceBook account, I didn't agree to you tracking me around the web, I didn't agree to have you create a shadow profile on me with all the stuff posted about me by others & coalated with every little tidbit of PII you could scrape up about me. I did not agree to be your source of income. So you can just delete all my info, never even try to do it again, & fuck right off if you think I'd ever agree to any of it at any point in the past, present, or future.
Take your "oh woe is me" bullshit & ram it where the sun doesn't shine.