This was the most intersting part of the editorial:
But more importantly, Apple has already demonstrated that it's possible to support ad-click referrals without tracking the user across every site they visit. Instead, Apple developed an API to track only which ad referred a sale, and not scrape up mountains of potentially private behavioral data while strip mining for ad dollars.
There are two schools of thought about ads and tracking:
Ad tracking is an invasive privacy violation since it scoops up data that users would rather not reveal, like unrelated sites they've visited
Advertisers need metrics on how effective their ads were (who many "leads" were generated) , who clicked on them, etc, to gather reasonable data as to how effective they are and whether the ads need to be tweaked or removed altogether
Sounds like Apple's working on an effective compromise between the two. Instead of a blunt instrument that arguably accomplishes the second at the expense of the first, Apple seems to have a more precise instrument to give advertisers what they really want.
Many good points. Think you're off base in your description of voice assistants and the importance of Siri in Apple's near and longer term future. First, you're correct about Google, Amazon, etc., in not "selling" products, and yes, surveys show only a tiny number of people actually buy things through them, but that's not their real goal. They can't admit it, but Google Assistant and Echo are data collection devices, and in that regard they are enormously successful. Amazing that people are oblivious or don't care that everything they say in front of GA is sent to Google's servers and retained forever and linked to what they call a "universal identifier" which is their virtual dossier they build on every person they can.
As far as Siri, I think you're wrong about the massive amounts of money Apple is pouring into Siri. Tim Cook periodically touts that Siri is the most used, by far, digital assistant in the world, and is really the most powerful in terms of what she can do, how many languages she speaks, etc. They are also incorporating Siri into every device because they realize how important voice will be to wearables, etc., e.g., AirPods, Beats, Apple Watch, etc.. Augmented Reality is going to be heavily integrated with Voice/Siri and Siri will be integral in any successful effort.
Siri is a sleeper because the Internet meme is that "Siri sucks," but nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, Siri has a long way to go, but as I wrote above, Siri is by far the most used in the world, and as multiple studies show, as is second in terms of accuracy to Google, ahead of Echo, and closing fast. Siri does very well on the things that people actually want to currently do with their assistants, e.g., play music, podcasts, make phone calls, check on traffic, read and send messages, check sports and weather, set timers, alarms, control Homekit devices, etc. I concur that once you buy a Homepod and start using Siri in these regards, you'll never go back and wonder why you waited so long. Ditto for Siri and Apple TV, makes it so much more convenient to tell Siri to pause, play a show, go back, etc. "What did they say?" feature is an ingenious simple delight.
Siri doesn't have thousands of "skills" like Amazon, but it turns out that surveys show most people haven't used a single one of those separate skills for echo. More importantly, with the new Siri shortcuts, you can make any skill you want, so if you want to duplicate the Amazon "skill" of making a fart sound, you can make a Siri shortcut do it as well, all without sacrificing your privacy and having contract workers in the Ukraine listening to fart sounds in your home!
Finally, making Siri more conversational is the Holy Grail. That's why Apple bought and is buying companies like VocalIQ (read up on this), as the ability to have sequential conversations, etc., will lead to massive and adoption across the board and is essential part of Apple's future.
"Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all plowed tons of money into voice assistants that are not selling anything. " lol. just lol.
Exaggeration it may be, but the estimates of hardware sales revealed by a quick Google search show approximately 50 million devices in the Amazon Echo and Google Home classes for the 2018 year. Pretty good numbers taken in isolation, and with an estimated ASP of, what, maybe US$80 (I couldn't find articles providing this metric) that equates to US$4 billion in sales.
Convincing Android users that personal privacy is something they need to be concerned about is an uphill task.
Most Apple users sort of get it but still carry on using social media and posting where they are, where they are going etc etc etc
One person I spoke to the other day simply does not care if everything he does is slurped by Google, Amazon, FB and all the other usual suspect.
There was no budging in his position.
I don't want my life broadcast to the world. Yes, I am insignificant but put a lot of us together and bingo, you have all the data that advertisers love and will pay handsomely for.
My family are starting to come around to my position but weaning them off of Social Media is hard especially when schools etc use FB for communicating with parents. If I was a parent and not a grandparent, I'd be giving the school a hard time about that. What's wrong with email anyway?
Yes, that has been my experience as well. I suspect that a lot of that stems from their not understanding the depth and scope of the surveillance.
If somebody then asked if the could put a camera in their home to monitor their activity, most people give a horrified "NO!". But Amazon, Facebook, Google and others do pretty much exactly that -- monitor their every move, collect it, analyze it and sell it.
The only plausible way for a wake-up call to happen is if a major impact due to private security breach occurred to Android users. Without a real event that affects a real life directly and personally in a drastic way, it would always be an uphill task to convince people the importance of personal privacy protection. It is important for people NOT to just click 'agree' for any of online services especially if they are offered freely - without really understanding what they collect in returns.
Comments
There are two schools of thought about ads and tracking:
- Ad tracking is an invasive privacy violation since it scoops up data that users would rather not reveal, like unrelated sites they've visited
- Advertisers need metrics on how effective their ads were (who many "leads" were generated) , who clicked on them, etc, to gather reasonable data as to how effective they are and whether the ads need to be tweaked or removed altogether
Sounds like Apple's working on an effective compromise between the two. Instead of a blunt instrument that arguably accomplishes the second at the expense of the first, Apple seems to have a more precise instrument to give advertisers what they really want.As far as Siri, I think you're wrong about the massive amounts of money Apple is pouring into Siri. Tim Cook periodically touts that Siri is the most used, by far, digital assistant in the world, and is really the most powerful in terms of what she can do, how many languages she speaks, etc. They are also incorporating Siri into every device because they realize how important voice will be to wearables, etc., e.g., AirPods, Beats, Apple Watch, etc.. Augmented Reality is going to be heavily integrated with Voice/Siri and Siri will be integral in any successful effort.
Siri is a sleeper because the Internet meme is that "Siri sucks," but nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, Siri has a long way to go, but as I wrote above, Siri is by far the most used in the world, and as multiple studies show, as is second in terms of accuracy to Google, ahead of Echo, and closing fast. Siri does very well on the things that people actually want to currently do with their assistants, e.g., play music, podcasts, make phone calls, check on traffic, read and send messages, check sports and weather, set timers, alarms, control Homekit devices, etc. I concur that once you buy a Homepod and start using Siri in these regards, you'll never go back and wonder why you waited so long. Ditto for Siri and Apple TV, makes it so much more convenient to tell Siri to pause, play a show, go back, etc. "What did they say?" feature is an ingenious simple delight.
Siri doesn't have thousands of "skills" like Amazon, but it turns out that surveys show most people haven't used a single one of those separate skills for echo. More importantly, with the new Siri shortcuts, you can make any skill you want, so if you want to duplicate the Amazon "skill" of making a fart sound, you can make a Siri shortcut do it as well, all without sacrificing your privacy and having contract workers in the Ukraine listening to fart sounds in your home!
Finally, making Siri more conversational is the Holy Grail. That's why Apple bought and is buying companies like VocalIQ (read up on this), as the ability to have sequential conversations, etc., will lead to massive and adoption across the board and is essential part of Apple's future.
Apple's estimated iPhone sales for 2018 are over 210 million with an ASP in the region of $725 (taking this article at its word: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/09/15/apple-found-a-way-to-keep-its-asp-growing.aspx), giving a smidge over $152 billion in sales.
From those figures, this gives Amazon and Google ~2.5% of the sales of Apple. I think the article's claim can stand.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winstonprivacy/winston-the-worlds-most-advanced-online-privacy-device/description