{"id":37520,"date":"2022-11-01T16:00:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=37520"},"modified":"2022-11-09T13:13:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T18:13:10","slug":"app-store-ads-gone-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/01\/app-store-ads-gone-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"App Store Ads Gone Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Gruber<\/a> (tweet<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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But how much money can these ads be generating? How much can Apple hope they eventually generate? It can’t possibly be enough money to justify the damage it’s doing to Apple’s brand.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

“No ads in the App Store, period” would have been a powerful, appealing message. One that Apple could have used to justify its control over all software on the platform and its much-debated mandatory cut of all app and game transactions. “We sell ads in the App Store, but they’re OK because they don’t track you” seems to be the message Apple is going for, but that’s neither powerful nor appealing. It boils down to “Hey, it could be worse.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Ryan Jones<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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“OK because they don’t track you”\naccepts Apple’s self-defined esoteric definition of “track” as standard language.<\/p>\n

I’m certain that’s not true.<\/p>\n

I propose that “only we can track you” is technically correct and standard definitions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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But there are aspects of Apple’s position on advertising eight years ago, unrelated to privacy, that don’t square with Apple’s position today. Cook has repeated variations of that “you’re not the customer, you’re the product” mantra umpteen times since 2014. But how are these ads in the App Store not making users the product, and advertisers the customers?<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple’s business model is no longer the straightforward selling of great products, and these new ads in the App Store are not designed to make anything better other than Apple’s Services bottom line.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Voorhees<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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What happened shouldn’t surprise anyone who has even a passing familaritly with auction based ad models on the web. Of course these were the ads that would dominate the App Store.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Oliver Haslam<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Which, realistically, means Apple wasn’t surprised. Which means it knew what it was doing and ploughed on anyway.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The Talk Show<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Federico Viticci returns to the show to talk about iPads, Stage Manager, and Apple’s ill-considered foray into expanding ads in the App Store.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n