Report Reveals Apple Employees Internally Unhappy With Plans to Show More Ads to iPhone Users

"Salespeople should use "audience refinement" instead of saying "targeting," "platform" instead of "algorithm," and "competitor keywords" and "brand defenses" instead of "conquesting.""

This is why 2022 (and onwards) will be like 1984.
This.

Reminds me of this book:
https://www.amazon.com/********-Harry-G-Frankfurt/dp/0691122946

Edit: Sorry. The link is broken because it contains a curse word. Just Google "on bull sh*t".
 
It's odd how conflicted I am by this. On the one hand, my views on advertising are the same as Bill Hicks. On the other, the ads that I see in the app store/appletv/etc at least look slick, they look Apple. And typically idgaf about whatever they're trying to sell me, my adhd is able to quickly ignore it and move towards whatever it is I want. It's the popup and oppressive ads (looking at you Fandom) that should go die in fire. At least with what Apple is offering it's looks pretty seemless.

I do agree with whoever said that ads are a virus though. Without people like these employees fighting against it it's just going to grow and grow.
 
There should be zero ads on a platform sold to us as being the very opposite of the revenue model used by the likes of Google and Facebook. Apple needs to be reminded of its core values. Apple is now fully in the grip of the operations division rather than the design division. No wonder the design team is losing people. Jony Ive's departure is making more and more sense.
This.

One thousand times, this.
 
To state the obvious, I don’t like ads. No one does.

I expect ads when I’m getting something for free. If I read an in-depth review of a new product I expect ads. Someone has to pay that reviewer for their time to research and write about the product. Ads put in front of me just because they can are not good.

For Apple Maps, to me that’s part of iOS. I feel like I pay for that when I buy the iPhone. So I don’t think ads are appropriate.

Apple News makes sense to have ads inside an article just as if you viewed the article on the website. However, I don’t think the main view of available articles should have ads especially if you pay for News+.

I definitely don’t want ads in the TV App. I’m going there to see content I’ve already paid for. That would be like opening my pantry to grab my morning cereal but seeing an ad for another cereal brand.

Honestly, I’m on the fence about the App Store. My usage is almost entirely to find an app that I search for. Rarely do I browse for something new. If Apple wants to show a sponsored new game in a promoted way I don’t know how much I care. To me it’s like walking through the grocery store and seeing featured products on big displays. As long as I can easily get to what I want I’m not sure I care.

It’s like many things where the current reality is not so bad, but we fear the trend.
Well said and I generally agree with all of what you said. I never could warm up to Waze because I hated how it showed you ads as soon as you stopped moving. If Apple does something similar with maps I'll stop using it.
 
Ads make *any* platform feel cheap. Yet Apple prides itself on being a premium ecosystem? You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Unfortunately, what are the alternatives? If this trend continues, I'd feel the need to jump ship but what to?
 
These revenue driven decisions are slowly destroying the differentiators that made iOS competitive in comparison to Android. What used to be a deciding factor for going with iOS (fewer ads and tracking, more security, etc.) is becoming a moot point. The Apple employees can only voice their concerns for so long until revenue hungry management overrules them. Sad to see Apple going in this direction,
Actually I recently listen to Tripp Mickle audiobook about Apple after Steve Jobs and it pretty much says that.
Really sad.
 
Next they will be putting Ads in Siri.

"Hey Siri what was the Cowboys score last night"

"Sure, you want to do know the Cowboys score, just listen to this Ad from Draftkings and we will continue"
 
Ads make *any* platform feel cheap. Yet Apple prides itself on being a premium ecosystem? You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Unfortunately, what are the alternatives? If this trend continues, I'd feel the need to jump ship but what to?
Exactly. Where to go? Android? Microsoft isn't even a player in mobile. So what then?
 
Apple are playing right into the hands of regulators. Why? well look at it this way. Apple are putting ad's in the app store, there is only ONE app store which means anyone that purchases a premium priced iphone has no choice but to put up with ad's. There is no other app store therefore iphone owners have no option but to put up with ad's.

I am not going to buy a $2,000 iphone and be told I have to put up with ad's in the only place I can download apps. This means ad's are being forced upon customers and they have no choice but to put up with it. Many countries regulators will be looking into this carefuly I think
 
I once thought dropping the Intel processors would be a no go for me and the move that pushed me out of their walled garden. I was wrong about that.

Now I think it's going to be ads. Hope I'm wrong here too.
 
Well, I hate ads. I really do. I hate them.

But I would be probably OK with them in App Store if I could:

- save or view my recent searches
- bookmark apps I'd like to get back to later
- sort apps and games by release date

How on earth this isn't part of the App Store after all these years...
 
I just noticed ads the other day on Apple News, despite paying for News+ (as part of Apple One)!! Ads in Maps is not as bad as if I were to see ads in Maps even when I’m paying for a hypothetical Maps+, haha. What are they thinking, including ads even in their paid services? Oh, and it was a ginormous ad that took up like a third of the screen on my iPad.
 
Apple has lost its heart. It is a downward spiral right now. All about profit and not making the best products. It's now about getting as much money as the customer is willing to spend for the least cost to produce. Investors and profit margins are what matter most. Repeated hardware design flaws, confusing product line-up, unattainable priced products... This literally is apple 1990's right now... no eye-popping software or hardware innovation in over a decade. The ads are just there to help replace the damage from not being able to sell lightning cables anymore. It's getting gross and desperate now.
 
Ads seldom provide a good user experience, even if focused. Curated recommendations have always been good as long as they are not money driven. Please, Apple, stop.
 
I'm glad there are rational people who work at apple. Seems like a dying art in any industry these days.
If by as the headline says, the employees aren't happy, they could always leave Apple to show how unhappy they really are. They could give up their salaries, tenure, bonuses and stock options and do the right thing, which is quit. That they are unhappy doesn't make them rational.
 
Apple has lost its heart. It is a downward spiral right now. All about profit and not making the best products. It's now about getting as much money as the customer is willing to spend for the least cost to produce. Investors and profit margins are what matter most. Repeated hardware design flaws, confusing product line-up, unattainable priced products... This literally is apple 1990's right now... no eye-popping software or hardware innovation in over a decade. The ads are just there to help replace the damage from not being able to sell lightning cables anymore. It's getting gross and desperate now.
Could you give examples of other tech companies that you consider to be the alternative for the Apple ecosystem that despite your somewhat dystopian "review", still works pretty well.
 
Apple has lost its heart. It is a downward spiral right now. All about profit and not making the best products. It's now about getting as much money as the customer is willing to spend for the least cost to produce. Investors and profit margins are what matter most. Repeated hardware design flaws, confusing product line-up, unattainable priced products... This literally is apple 1990's right now... no eye-popping software or hardware innovation in over a decade. The ads are just there to help replace the damage from not being able to sell lightning cables anymore. It's getting gross and desperate now.
And this time around there is no Steve Jobs to save it.
 
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