“‘Apple knows what you’ve downloaded, and how much time you spend interacting with applications,’ said Rachel Pasqua, director of mobile at iCrossing, a marketing company. ‘It even knows what you’ve downloaded, don’t like and deleted,'” The Telegraph reports. “Information about shopping habits is never passed directly to advertisers, but being able to paint an overall picture of people’s online behaviour, likes and preferences could enable advertisers to target possible consumers more effectively, say experts. Advertisers can use these generalised ‘portraits’ of users to decide which apps to serve their ads in.”
The Telegraph reports, “Advertisers are not privy to any personal user information when placing their targeted ads; instead, advertisers can choose which categories of applications they want to advertise in, such as sports or entertainment apps, based on the type of people those apps appeal to.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Duh. Some “secrets.”
They miss the point. Apple not only knows what apps you like, but also what music, movies, computer accessories, computer software, and books. They know if you’ve bought family packs or just single licenses, if you’ve shipped to a business address or just home, and on and on. And if you use MobileMe, they know everything about you, including your calendar, which holidays you observe, and where you get your mail from.
Just saying.
Bonzai,
You are thinking of the do no evil company.
Go to move to France and f**k yourself.
@Bonzai McBriefs, agreed. The article completely misses the point.
Advertisers are not privy to any personal user information when placing their targeted ads; instead, advertisers can choose which categories of “magazine” they want to advertise in, such as sports or entertainment “magazines”, based on the type of people those “magazines” appeal to.
Apple’s analytics is far more valuable than they’re implying, and far more valuable than the simple key words driving Google’s search-based ads.
I’ve always thought it was strange that will all the rich data Google’s collecting on us, they have never found a way to use it in their ad business.
Apple studies taste, which is more than purchasing patterns and popularity – re:Genius Bar. When Apple gets done with its 1st version of A.I., you wlll see Google getting really concerned.
… Brave New World for iAd
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The next three years will show how Apple’s new iAd revenue stream will add to the bottom line!
Exciting times for Apple and AAPL stocks!!!!!
Apple will lead the way in this internet ad based money generating revenues for developers and product sellers with compromising personal data from the “users”!!!!! No Google collection of personal data is what Apple is all about.
AAPL will be $401 in 2011 period!
@iAppleTennisU, you’re forgetting about Apple’s next big thing.
Imaging the revenue that will start streaming when they blackmail us with the years of iSight camera footage they’ve saved : )
What did you think that billion-dollar server farm was for?
Sorry!
I meant …”without” compromising personal data from the “users”!!!!!
@ disposableidentity
Looking at that Billion dollar server farm as a great early investment from Apple Inc.
Data storage and management within Apple’s iTunes and APP’s p;us MobileMe makes Apple run efficiently.
The future for other big companies is to build mega server farms!!!!!!! But the cost of it will have gone Up!!!!!
So Apple was smart to have it started earlier for only a $Billion!!!!!
Watch news later on others will build for $10 Billion!!!!! Apple wins in cost/megabyte.
To translate it further; with Google’s ad platform, I still get ads for erectile dysfunction, Chevy trucks (I live in Manhattan and would never ever buy a car, much less a truck), golfing equipment (never did anything online that could even remotely connect me to golf), cruises (never been on one, never will go on a cruise) and other, for me absolutely, completely irrelevant stuff.
Apple’s iAds will (hopefully) bring me ads that I might actually be interested in. Therefore, I’ll be much more likely to click on them. Therefore, these ads will generate much more click-through (and, hopefully, revenue) for the original advertiser; therefore, they’ll choose to target their market through Apple, rather than carpet-bomb everyone with ads via Google (or TV, or magazines, for that matter).
If all advertising were as precise and as accurate as the Pentagon’s guided missiles claim to be, we’ll get far less ‘collateral damage’ (i.e. irrelevant ads we need to watch through, or skip over, or click through, before getting to our content). Precise advertising only means more effective (consequently, less annoying) advertising.
Well they are not that smart. I am in Canada and it started serving me French ads and I couldn’t understand what they were trying to sell me.
“Well they are not that smart. I am in Canada and it started serving me French ads and I couldn’t understand what they were trying to sell me.”
That’s what you get with that bi-lingual stuff. We’ll be attacked with Mexican and muslim ads in the US soon.
Go to http://oo.apple.com in Safari from your iOS 4 device. That device is then opted out of any targeted ads. Simple.
That said, all targeting/tracking should be opt-in. Something the advertisers on MDN will never do. Go explore the cookies and external JavaScripts called on this site and then go install Pith Helmet: http://culater.net/software/PithHelmet/PithHelmet.php
I don’t block ads – they are a legitimate means of bringing us content for “free”. But the tracking and popping up etc. that is all bogus.
@ ron–
Neither “Mexican,” nor “Muslim” are languages.
“@ ron–
Neither “Mexican,” nor “muslim” are languages.
“Who said they were? I wrote about ads. Lower case by design.
Oh for crying out loud, I don’t want advertising, it just plain sucks and most (non-MDN readers would agree). I mean that’s why we have the option to edit recordable material from the hard drives of our dvd recorders etc.
For the record I’ve been a loyal Mac user for almost 20 years but this is just a revenue stream nothing more and nothing less. How the hell is going to enrich my life by being hassled into buying goods without a choice to switch off the advertising.
I wouldn’t mind paying extra for software but the situation that’s been described thus far is that you get the advertising whether you like it or not. I hate radio advertising and I likewise advertising on television as well.
I really wish the company well in all their endeavours but as a non-Apple shareholder this does absolutely nothing for me. At least with Safari I can use Adblocker etc. to improve my net surfing but what is the alternative here?
Thanks for the info..
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