In the light of a new report, some Apple employees working in the company's advertising business spoke about their concerns that showing more ads to iPhone users would damage the top‑notch experience that customers have come to expect. According to The Information, this disagreement has caused tension within the company.
See also: Apple misses two-year deadline to switch from Intel
The Information’s extensive report provides an in-depth look at how Apple’s advertising team operates, as well as internal concerns that the company is evolving too quickly. For example, the report says that Apple salespeople are not allowed to use certain keywords when discussing the company’s advertising business — they must use terms like “audience improvement” instead of “targeting,” “platform” instead of “algorithm,” and “competitor keywords” and “brand defenses” instead of “conquesting.”
See also: Lawsuit against Apple for user tracking
Covering its intentions with the pretext of protecting users' privacy, Apple has created yet another way to control what we see and what we think. Banning terms such as “targeting” regarding advertisements, it is able to further dictate the discussion around its products. And while a spokesperson could say that this is due to wanting employees to use language appropriate for Apple's offers, it is clear that it is simply another marketing gimmick.
While Apple has been projecting a sense of unity when it comes to ads — particularly those in the App Store that are intended to help developers gain more customers and allow consumers to discover new apps — its employees are unhappy with the practice. In internal chatrooms, at least seven employees who worked on Apple’s advertising team expressed concerns that the company was going too far with ads and that they would detract from the premium iPhone experience. The report reveals that it had planned to show users ads in Spotlight search on iOS as early as 2018 — but after possible internal backlash, those plans were quickly abandoned.
See also: Apple is building a metaverse rival
According to the report, some managers in Apple's advertising department used to pressure salespeople to sell advertising opportunities to various companies. They did this by using keywords that were less relevant to their apps, but were cheaper than other keywords, often making the salespeople feel uncomfortable. Requests from the managers often made the salespeople feel uncomfortable, adding to the fact that Apple's advertising team did not have access to contact information or financial data regarding developers in the App Store, further alienating them.
Recently, Apple developers and users, as well as customers and critics, have all spoken out against its plans to show more ads in the App Store. There are also reports suggesting that ads may soon start appearing in Apple Maps and Apple TV+. Even with this expansion of ads, however, a person familiar with the matter says that Apple doesn't want to make its advertising business as big as Meta or Google.
Source of information: macrumors.com
