[noizejoy]

I’d categorize that as a beef with the walled garden system, more so than Apple becoming an ad company.

I don’t have an issue with criticism of the walled garden approach and that being a reason for many individuals to avoid the Apple ecosystem.

But I think that’s quite a different discussion than the business model of companies who make most of their revenue from ads and the tracking they do while one is visiting different properties all over the web.

Approximately 1% of revenue from ads doesn’t really make someone an ad company.

Again, I have no problem with critical comments about Apple (I have a lengthy list myself) - but advertising is not an equivalence between Apple and other truly advertising based companies.

[paulryanrogers]

My concern is that ad revenue is just too tempting, especially as other revenue sources plateau. That's why once paid and ad free services like cable devolved into paid-with-ads.

[noizejoy]

If you’re essentially extrapolating into what Apple may become one day, rather than what it is now (i.e. if/when the 1% of revenue from advertising becomes a meaningfully larger share like 51% or whatever the threshold for being an advertising company is in your thinking), then I understand where you’re coming from.

However, I’m coming from a perspective to let history play out a little more before trying to predict the future too far out.

In addition, I find calling Apple an advertising company distracts from much more legitimate complaints about Apple.

And it whitewashes Google, Meta and their ilk.

Apple is far from perfect on privacy issues, but todate also nowhere near as horrific as the much more fully ad dependent companies.