Facebook Takes the Gloves Off in Feud With Apple

That was when Apple announced changes to iPhone software that would blunt the ability of companies like Facebook to collect data on iPhone users. The changes included enabling people to share their approximate location, instead of a precise one, and adding easy-to-read summaries to the App Store on what data each app collects.

Most concerning for Facebook, however, was a change that would require iPhone owners to grant apps explicit permission to track them across different apps. Under that policy, most people would probably block Facebook from collecting such information. Facebook uses such data to build robust profiles of its users that it then markets to advertisers.

Analysts said the change would probably have a limited impact on Facebook’s main ad business, as it already knows plenty about its users’ interests from their activity on Facebook and Instagram. But they said it could hurt Facebook’s efforts to sell ads in other places around the internet. Facebook’s enormous trove of user data is also one of its most valuable assets.

“What could be at stake is some future business that Facebook thinks is the next big thing that they can’t get without this data,” Mr. Bajarin said.

For now, Apple and Facebook hardly compete, save for some limited areas, like Facebook Portal, a screen that Facebook sells for video chatting. But both companies are working toward what many in Silicon Valley believe is the next big thing in computing — augmented reality, or a way to mix digital images into a person’s view of the real world — and analysts expect that race to put them on a collision path.

By the time it publicly blasted Apple on Wednesday, Facebook had already taken a shot at its frenemy this week, on Monday. When authorities in Europe were preparing new proposals to regulate tech companies, including a measure to require more transparency on ad targeting, Facebook responded with a statement saying it welcomed regulation — but wondered why the regulators had not taken aim at Apple, too.

“Apple controls an entire ecosystem from device to app store and apps, and uses this power to harm developers and consumers,” the company said, “as well as large platforms like Facebook.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/technology/facebook-takes-the-gloves-off-in-feud-with-apple.html