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It’s easy for Tim to say this now when the bulk of apples revenues and profits come from selling hardware. But what happens now that Apple is getting into the subscription business? How do they offer a compelling TV product if they know nothing about me and what I like to watch and can’t share that with the content creators making the shows? Also how does Tim propose non-hardware companies make money when people don’t want to pay for things? The reason the advertising model exists is because people want services like Facebook and Google search to be “free”.

Creators don’t need personal data to measure the success of their products and apple doesn’t need to have access to you data to recommend relevant shows. That algorithm can either be easily ran on device based on your viewing history, or anonymized before it’s sent to apple
 
"...if we can't make the best product, we don't go in"

*Except for smart speakers.
HomePod has some of the best sound in smart speakers.
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This privacy talking is getting boring. Looks like he doesn’t have anything better to talk about like.. Macs???
The thing that’s boring you is the #1 tech issue of our time, and the reason, in spite of my legitimate frustrations with Apple, I’m all in on their gadgets and platforms.
 
Cook went on to say that he's frustrated tech is seen as monolithic, lumping Apple in with other companies like Facebook.
Tim Cook's Warren Buffett groveling perfectly demonstrates why big tech is seen as monolithic, intended to benefit rich investors and CEOs rather than consumers at large.
 
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If I would have known all it took to be a CEO was to book an interview every single day to repeat the same talking points I woulda quit school a long time ago. Hey all you other MacRumors people, anyone want to help me start a business in my garage? I'll be the CEO and you can be the Wozniak.
Deal! Just show me your MBA from an elite business school and master the supply chain at a Fortune 500 company, and it’s on!
 
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I have a friend that works at Apple, he is very top management, he has been there for more than 10 years.

The only "digital print" he has is one Google email address and his profile in Linkedin that does not show his face... that is it!

He does not have Facebook, Instagram Wahstap, anything!
 
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I feel Tim's just riding the privacy thing because it's different from their competitors. He talks a lot of talk but I generally don't like the direction he's taking Apple.

I wish they'd own up to the crappy keyboards, lack of repairability, etc. On privacy he talks a lot yet iCloud device backups are not encrypted before leaving the device. For some things syncing cannot even be controlled; for example, as soon as you sign into iCloud your phone's recent calls get synced, nor can you distinguish syncing Safari bookmarks from history--it's all or nothing. I cannot even opt out of analytics for Podcasts or Books, the most I can do is reset my identifier.

Apple does a lot for privacy, but if they were genuinely serious about it things would be different.
 
There’s something fishy about their increasing PR campaign. As a long time Apple customer, I haven’t seen much change on their privacy policy or how they ensure it for the last 10-15 years but Timmy just talks about it more and more. Intuition tells it’s not just for marketing their new products but for more. We just don’t know their end goal yet. We’ll probably see a glimpse of it after potential privacy regulation changes.
 
With your private key

So you're suggesting we reduce a private key to something like a password that people are supposed to remember?

Sounds like a great idea to me.

What do you mean they don't encrypt it? Are you serious!? Of course they do.

Apple encrypts your data, but Apple holds the keys. So if they need to access your data (say they get served with a court order) then they can decrypt it.

The poster you replied to is using a logical fallacy to imply Apple doesn't care about privacy due to some imaginary problem that exists with Apple and iCloud/encryption.

Apple ALREADY provides a solution for the super paranoid - backup your devices to your computer using iTunes and encrypt the backup. Not only do you control the backup via your own "private key" but it's also stored locally instead of on a server somewhere.
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I don’t think boots walking knows you can change it.

I also don't think he knows what information Apple sends when a search is done, and what steps Apple takes to protect your identity. People seem to think Google has a wide-open back door to your device and everything you do just because Apple allows you to set Google as a default search engine.

Apple also stores iCloud data on other servers (like Google and Amazon). I see the same privacy argument where people imply that because iCloud data is on another server, that the owners of that server (like Google) have the ability to see your data. They absolutely DO NOT have access to your iCloud data even though it's on their servers. So, again, my privacy is still intact even when Apple uses third parties for cloud storage.
 
What do you mean they don't encrypt it? Are you serious!? Of course they do.

Apple ONLY encrypts data using a key they have and which can therefor be lost and which provides a huge target. This is why they can provide icloud backup, iCloud history etc to anyone who asked and provides a warrant. It is always why if that key (or those keys) are compromised, huge swaths of users will have their backups and history compromised.

As far as the comments, there are well known methods to encrypt and share information between devices using private keys that Apple wouldn't have access to. Likewise you could also use your other devices to unlock backups for your lost device. This is complicated, but it can be done.
 
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Then how will you browse the iCloud data on your “other” devices if it has on device key?

iMessages are encrypted and yet we can read them, can’t we? It doesn’t have to be mandatory. “Optional” would be suffice. (for those who don’t trust Tim’s insatiable desire of pleasing investors at all costs to customers and even company)
 
Creators don’t need personal data to measure the success of their products and apple doesn’t need to have access to you data to recommend relevant shows. That algorithm can either be easily ran on device based on your viewing history, or anonymized before it’s sent to apple
It isn’t that what other companies/services are doing. Who is collecting non-anonymized data?
 
The poster you replied to is using a logical fallacy to imply Apple doesn't care about privacy due to some imaginary problem that exists with Apple and iCloud/encryption.

It's not a logical fallacy. It's not an imaginary problem. It's a legitimate concern because in some situations iTunes it not an option: the user may be iPad-only, or they have an iPhone but run Linux on their computers.
 
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Does he give interviews every single day of his life?

Probably. I large part of a CEO's job is to sell the company. If he is a good CEO, and judging by Apple's financial performance he is, then he has other staff running day to day operations.

I don't personally like many of the product design choices Apple has made in recent years and I certainly don't like the price increases. But based on Apple's financial performance to date what he is doing is certainly working.
 
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