Analytics And Privacy Issues

Back in January an analytics firm called Flurry published a post discussing a possible tablet coming from Apple, what we now know as the iPad.  Needless to say this information was not official and could be considered a "leak", but how did this data leak?  Well apparently some testers at Apple installed certain apps to test on the iPad prototypes, some of these apps had Flurry's analytic software that sent data back to flurry.  Flurry mined the data and figured out details that pointed to Apple developing a new product.  Furthermore, they also noticed that Apple was testing the upcoming iOS 4.0 on their campus.

In April, Apple decided to modify the app store conditions to ban the use of analytics tools such as Flurry's.  In a recent interview, at the D8 conference, Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) discussed the ban.  He claims that analytics tools that behave like Flurry's break their privacy and terms of use, in addition to breaking the privacy of the app users; and in my opinion he is right. 

Flurry allegedly gathered app user's personal data without consent or at the very least detailing what kind of metrics they actually tracked.  I understand that more data could lead to a better, customized marketing experience for the user, but where do we draw the line?

From Apple's point of view Flurry's post or data mining could lead to potential economic loss.  The kind of data they released could affect Apple's stock price and market confidence.  It can also reduce competitive advantage by disclosing technical data from Apple devices to the competition. 

From a consumer's point of view I'm concern for the lack of disclosure.  The fact that they could collect my personal data and they don't ask for my permission or give me the choice NOT to use the app is unethical or questionable at best.

This is just another issue of privacy that has been raised over the last few months.  I think that we are just starting to notice and things will get worst... the gray area will become bigger and will be entered by many.  Hopefully we, the users, will be able to force companies to adjust privacy for our protection or hope that we reach a happy medium between privacy and marketing data mining.  But is there really a happy medium?

Will iAds Change The Mobile Marketing Arena?

Today was the first day of Apple's WWDC 2010 and as usual all the hype was around Steve Jobs' keynote... even though most of the world knew he was going to showcase the new iPhone 4.  Personally I'm not blown away by the new iPhone, most of the features were already expected;  however, there was a feature that has interesting implications and not many people are talking about it yet.  Apple will be integrating an ad platform called iAd to the iPhone OS 4.0 (iOS) which will run on iPhones 3G, 3GS, 4, iPod Touch and iPads. 

Apple's success over the last decade with the iPod, iTunes/App store, iPhones could be attributed to the fact that their products are vertically integrated.  They provide users with an extremely user-friendly ecosystem that facilitates the purchase and consumption of media and software.  Now they are adding advertisement to their ecosystem.  There are not much details about how it will work, but Jobs has said the following:

• Developers keep 60% of ad revenues;
• Apple will host, deliver the ads;
• There are a number of companies already signed up to spend $60 million dollars on the platform for the second half of this year;
• Ads will display from within the apps; ads will be highly interactive allowing users to watch videos and even buy products without leaving the ad or app.

 So why do I think Apple might change the mobile marketing arena?  Well lets just look at some numbers.  Apple is #2 in the U.S. mobile market share covering 28% of the market (Nielsen).  Furthermore, Apple claims that it will be selling the 100 millionth iOS device.  Now let's be conservative and assume that about 50% of those devices can actually upgrade to iOS 4.0 we are still talking of roughly 50 million devices.  That means that Apple has a portfolio of 50 million users to give to advertisers.

In addition to the install base Apple has a benefit no other mobile ad company has: it knows the product inside out.  Apple knows exactly what can and can't be done with the iPhone and therefore they know exactly what kind of ads can be built.  This will push the limits of what kind of ads can be done and possibly yield innovative ads.

Another reason why Apple might change the mobile marketing arena is the leveraging power they have.  They've already secured $60 million worth of advertising for a service that is not out or has been proven yet (proof of their leverage).  Apple will most certainly negotiate good deals that will benefit them and will allow them to provide developers with a "perfect" single solution.  Developers need not worry about looking for other mobile ad solutions if Apple has a broad, solid portfolio that pays good and requires almost no management.

iAds seems to be another solid addition to what seems like a perfect ecosystem.  If Apple has made iAds as friendly as their other solutions we might be looking at the next step in the mobile marketing evolution.