Apple’s New Privacy Policy Tests the Limits of Its Platform Power
Can Apple contain the widespread unhappiness among app publishers over its broad new privacy rules?
Apple plans to soon implement a broad new privacy policy that thoroughly upends the mobile advertising industry. App Tracking Transparency, or ATT, is a radical course change that endangers the business models of ad platforms, app publishers and online retailers alike. It’s hard to overstate just how much consternation and anxiety ATT has wrought upon the mobile ecosystem.
But the response Apple’s bold move has engendered points to the risks of overplaying its admittedly very strong hand. Apple is making changes that deeply favor its own interests and undermine rivals like Facebook in the name of abstract privacy benefits. And, with the battle enjoined, governments and competitors could well challenge it on this front or adopt workarounds that ultimately reduce Apple’s control even more deeply over time.