Profit as Motive

Benoit Maison, in reference to my belief that Apple values user privacy much more than does Google:

It’s easier to care about your users’ privacy when your business model does not depend on eroding it.

Agreed. There’s no reason to be anything but cynical about both Apple’s and Google’s motives — with regard to mapping, and everything. Profit. The difference with regard to privacy is that Apple profits almost solely through the sale of hardware products. Google profits almost solely through targeted advertising.

I happen to think that Google’s executive leadership, Eric Schmidt in particular, holds some creepy views on privacy. But I’m not asking anyone to believe Apple’s superior (in my view) stance on privacy is particularly noble. As Maison tweeted, it’s easier for Apple to protect, rather than exploit, users’ privacy because such a stance aligns with their business model.

★ Saturday, 15 December 2012