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by CSSer 1081 days ago
If Apple can convince your cohort, herein referred to as "you" for simplicity, that everyone else is toxic, then you'll only use Apple products. If you only use Apple products, Apple has higher quality user data about you than their direct and indirect competitors, herein referred to as "anyone else" or "others". This means Apple is uniquely positioned to sell more effectively targeted advertising to you than anyone else. This is especially true when Apple takes steps to improve privacy and security for you by making it more difficult for others to track you.

Apple said they cared about your privacy [from others, not from them]. To be clear, I'm trying to be objective. They're not selling individual personal data or recklessly leaking your data. They have promised to keep your data secure, and I think they've often lived up to that promise, especially compared to others (full disclosure: I own a multitude of Apple devices, but I'm not a fanatic).

However, the bottom line here is that using Apple products means you're putting a kind of centralized trust in Apple, and Apple never said they wouldn't take advantage of that trust where possible.