They don't need to actively track your individual searches for this. It's not like Apple is operating the search engine and serving up ads themselves. They just get part of Google's cumulative ad money from google searches on iOS.
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Apple Gets 36% of Google's Safari Search Revenue
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Apple knows every button press that occurs on their devices. They don’t need to know what people are searching for but they certainly know when someone is entering text in a search field in their own Safari app. It’s simply part of Screen Time and basic user behavior stats.
I would say it’s also pretty easy for Apple to join their iPhone records with their iCloud Private Relay records.
Once they see a business reason they’ll do it and you’d never know.
They manage the certs on the iPhone, it’s also not a problem for them to breakup any encrypted browser communication and suppress they’re doing it.
Might be also one of the reasons why they don’t want other browser engines, and why they don’t want to extend SSL cert info for users in safari. Thankfully this will come to a end in the EU by 2024.
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Exactly!? The fact that they make money from the traffic they generate is not the issue, that’s business 101. The issue is by having Google as the default browser on both Android and iOS, Google has potentially killed the competition unfairly.
Oh, I’m most certain there’s “a way” apple can verify the numbers “independently”.But, unless Google gives Apple the keys to all their back end ad data and revenue processing engine (not going to happen), they’re basically going off of numbers that Google is providing them with. OR going off of numbers that some “independent” third party has ascertained… using Google’s tools.
So, yes, in this and in a lot of tech businesses engagements, it really does amount to “trust us”. As long as the dollars are in an acceptable range, Apple’s not going to quibble over 47 users they’re sure searched from Chippewa County.
The question was whether Apple knows how many searches it drives to Google.
Apple might only be able to estimate the resulting revenue numbers that Google claims to be making from them, but it's IMHO unreasonable to believe they are basing such estimate only on a volume of searches Google self-reports instead of a volume of searches they are able to independently calculate.
We have come a long way from the days of “Apple is doomed if Google and Facebook ever decided to withhold their apps and services from iOS”.
Antitrust investigations notwithstanding, looks like Tim Cook made the absolutely right call to double down on the Apple ecosystem.
Antitrust investigations notwithstanding, looks like Tim Cook made the absolutely right call to double down on the Apple ecosystem.
Well if I come to you and complains how bad your service is and how I will try and make other stop using your service.
But you pay me to turn around and do the opposite and incentivize by revenue sharing … sounds like bribery to me
A bribe doesn’t necessarily imply illegal activity
bribe
verb [ T ]
LAW
UK
/braɪb/ US
Recording who search what is an invasion of privacy. Knowing number of count is not. A store can track how many item they sold, just not exactly who they sold each item to.
What is more annoying to me isn’t anything to do with privacy because I doubt Apple has access to this information through Google. What annoys me is the bit about they are making upwards of 15% of their annual revenue through this deal and that doesn’t translate into savings for the end user one bit.
It’s simply distribution.
Apple is distributing Googles service.
Distributors take a margin on what they distribute.
The better your distribution channel, the higher margin you can take.
Apple has an excellent distribution channel to all of its devices.
Makes me even happier I moved to Bing, their Rewards program has allowed me to get PC Game Pass for free, six months and counting
If they’re gonna profit off me might as well get some breadcrumbs in return
If they’re gonna profit off me might as well get some breadcrumbs in return
Just use duck duck go, add the term “Reddit” to the end of every search and you’re about as good as Google is nowadays.
Google’s search prowess has gone downhill a fair bit this last couple of years due in part to AI “articles” and spam.
Google’s search prowess has gone downhill a fair bit this last couple of years due in part to AI “articles” and spam.
Target advertising is a separate issue from privacy for me.
As long as Google can't know who I am, or can't link personal information to me, it's not a privacy issue for me. I'm against target advertising not because it's targeted, but because I must see relevant ads.
That's why I think Google is worse than NSA. NSA doesn't show ads.
Hell, I actually prefer that. When I search for something, I know what I’m looking for and don’t need AI-driven handholding trying to guess what I might mean or be “interested in,” aside from basic typo checking.
That's a good thing, taking money from companies you don't like.
It means Google has less money to do other things.
What’s more likely outcome?
1. Status quo, Google remains Safari default search engine. Apple continues to make healthy profit.
2. User choice, future versions of OS will simply ask users upon setup to choose a default search engine.
3. Apple search engine, Apple develops a search engine powered by iCloud and Siri as the new default.
Actually see all these options as equally viable.
1. Status quo, Google remains Safari default search engine. Apple continues to make healthy profit.
2. User choice, future versions of OS will simply ask users upon setup to choose a default search engine.
3. Apple search engine, Apple develops a search engine powered by iCloud and Siri as the new default.
Actually see all these options as equally viable.
Apple revenue for the twelve months ending June 30, 2023 was $383.933B.
20B is 5.2%.
Target advertising absolutely works by "knowing who you are", or at least attempting to do so by putting together enough information to build an accurate enough individual profile.
That's the reason Google's targeted ads are so profitable: because by building the individual profiles and showing ads relevant to each individual, they are more effective and thus more valuable.
1. Yes, because quality isn't based on how much resources you pour into something. Microsoft has spent an enormous amount of resources on Windows compared to Apple and macOS. Still I prefer macOS.
Apple isn't a search company, it doesn't have a culture for search and retrieving information. The likelihood it will be better than Google is slim. All history points to the fact that Apple really sucks at searching compared to Google.
2. Anti-trust doesn't exist to force companies to enter into a market they don't want to. You can't force Apple to enter into the search engine ad market just because there is a lack of competition there. Also it's not a company responsibility to make sure there is good competition in a market they're not competing in.
Here is also something to think about for you: If there are no ads on search engines, then it's not a market anymore. There has to be some money (or similar) going from one party to another party for there to be a market.
No, it's not a good thing. Apple is helping to drive business to a company (and helping that company make more money) which engages in business activity they claim to be opposed to.
"Knowing who you are" isn't the same as knowing who you are. To me, building a profile without being able to connect it to me as a physical person and my name, isn't a privacy issue. It's not a privacy issue either for me, if I have given permission for Google to collect such information.
I don't see showing targeted ads based on an anonymous profile to be a privacy issue.
This is what every monopoly defender says about their product. It was even often used as the actual business rationale for why you couldn’t say…use any other hardware but ma bell’s
I don't care about competition per se. I want good services. I don't need more than one excellent search service.
It's the same for toothbrushes. I only need one company to make a toothbrush I like.