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Stefan's Naturally Aspirated Blog

Apple Privacy Protection vs Ongoing Google Exploits

After promising to phase out Cookies at the start of 2022, Google has gone back on its commitments as its replacement FLoC solution has been almost universally opposed by major industry players and regulators - and was certainly not compliant with GDPR or CCPA regulations. It leaves Google’s post third party cookie approach in tatters and with considerable work to build a new approach with broader industry and regulatory support.

 

Google’s Third Party Cookie support has thus...


Apple gives Small Businesses a Boost by Lowering App Store Commission to 15% from January 2021

App DevelopmentApp StoreApp Store CommissionappleDigital PublishingMobile PublishingNews+-
2020AFOSmallBusAppStore700-min

In one of a number of recent concessions to developers, Apple has decided to lower its Commission fees from 30% to 15% - for those apps which make less than $1m from the Apple App store annually - which covers most development outfits, with Apple estimating 98% of app developers benefitting. This is possibly short-term stimulus during the pandemic and may be reviewed and adjusted back at some stage next year.

 

It does though give hard-pressed developers and publishers running those apps...


How Apple's Newly Updated Safari Browser is Exposing the Fragmented, Unstable and Unsafe Nature of many leading websites

Ad BlockersAffino GDPRappleApple SafariBrowser SecurityGDPRPrivacyUser SafetyUser Security+-
2020AFOBlgSafariBlocker700-min

Despite years of advance warning, and an already prevailing paradigm shift towards heightened user safety and explicit consent - several web properties have done little to prepare themselves for the new era of locked-down browser security. In fact I’ve almost noted a prevalence of certain websites doubling down on their misguided stance - and putting in place all manner of ad-blocker alerts pop-ups and barriers.

 

Apple Safari is now a 3rd Party Ad Blocking Analysis Blocking

...

Apple's forthcoming Privacy and Security Centric iOS 14 Update has Media and Ad owners, and their Ad Platform suppliers worried

Ad CampaignsappleApple EcosytemConsumer ProtectionCustomer CareFaceBookGDPRiOSMail OnlinePrivacy+-
Security and Privacy

We’ve known about Apple’s incoming iOS and general operating ecosystem changes for a while now - and have reported the key points in our fairly recent Privacy Details and Tracking Permissions article. Apple is very much doing the right thing for customers and customer protections here in fully properly incorporating ’Explicit Consent’, and privacy first principles into every part of its operation.

 

For far too long unscrupulous Advertisers, Trackers and Platforms...


2020AFOAppleWWDCPrivacy700-min

All our staff at Affino have been using the Ghostery Browser Privacy plugin from the start - to be able to view exactly what 3rd Party Trackers there are on a particular page / website - and to opt out of, and screen those as appropriate.

 

Apple has pretty much taken Ghostery’s approach and baked it into its own Safari browser across all devices in the upcoming iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and macOS Big Sur releases, as well as its Apps environment / ecosystem. Which means that customers / ...


iTunes No-Downloads Rumours are bad news for both Consumers and Musicians

appleiTunesMP3Music DownloadsMusic IndustryMusic Streaming+-
2018AfBlgiTunesInFlames700-min

We’ve seen a number of rumours floating about - stating that Apple / iTunes is looking to suspend its iTunes Downloads Store some time around March 2019 onwards. The end result of this being less choice for consumers and still lower revenues for musicians - who already face diminishing returns across the board.

 

It’s likely another nail in the coffin of the Apple Eco-System (for me) and will probably accelerate my departure from the Apple platform - as Music has been one of ...


Is the iPhone X really worth it?

appleApple TVApple WatchiPhoneiPhone 8iPhone XLGLG V30Samsung Galaxy 8 NoteSaumsung+-
2017AfBlgiPhoneXVS700

So, following another fairly hype-laden Apple keynote presentation, it turns out that most of the products introduced were actually pretty decent. For the first time I am sort of interested in the Apple Watch, and I will definitely be upgrading my Apple TV at some stage in the near future. Pricing for each of those items was pretty much in line with expectations really - i.e. £400 and £200 respectively.

 

I found the introduction of the new iPhone 8 versions a little ...


The day Apple jumped the shark

appleApple BacktrackApple DesignApple iPhone 6 Battery LifeApple Smart CaseSmartphone Battery Life+-
2015AfBlgAppleShark700

Apple has just launched a really badly designed product for the first time now in over a decade and a half. This follows some significant foot-in-mouth manoeuvring where it decried and swore it would never make a bigger iPhone, or iPad, never create a ’netbook’ category product and certainly not entertain a stylus as an input device.

 

Steve Jobs criticised and ridiculed competitors for doing what Apple actually later copied itself. At the end of the day though, he was a ...


iOS 9 Launch marks start of Mobilegeddon proper

AdblockersappleCookie ArmageddonGhosteryiOS 9Mobile AdvertisingMobilegeddonNative AdvertisingPrivacy ProtectionPrivacy Tools+-
2015AfBlgIOS9-480

Last Friday saw the official launch of Apple’s iOS 9 - which gives mobile users access to privacy controls on their browser - meaning an effective ad blocker / 3rd party cookie blocker for all those iPhone and iPad users. This will mean that many businesses which are heavily reliant on banner-advertising revenues, will need to recalibrate their approaches or suffer significant falls in revenue.

 

"iOS tools like ’Crystal’ give people the ability to remove mobile web ...


Apple Music - The Verdict

appleApple MusicBBCDigital MusicDigital RadioInternet RadioiTunesMusic ConsumptionMusic DiscoveryMusic IndustryMusic InteractivityMusic SharingMusic StoreMusic StreamingPlaylistsSocial ConnectivitySocial MusicSpotify+-
2015AfBlgAppleMusic480

I will preface this article by saying that I am a long term music fanatic - having amassed some circa 10,000 12" records over the years, as well as a considerable volume of CDs - music is a constant in my every waking moment. Over the past 10 years I have gradually and almost fully transitioned to digital. I’ve been using iTunes since 2010, and am an early adopter of Spotify. I buy between 2 and 10 albums worth of music on roughly a weekly basis - this comes from a variety of sources - ...

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