Technology Obsession Commentary by Mitch Santell

Every year Apple parades it’s the newest version of the iPhone. After the official pitch and presentation by Apple, I notice that there are three kinds of articles that come out regarding the latest technology upgrades.

The first kind of article will explain how Apple has lost its edge and they used to be better when Steve Jobs was alive.

The second kind of article will explain how these are the best Apple products ever.

The third kind of article will tell you the reason to switch to Windows or Samsung or some other type of system.

The one thing that most people don’t get is this: Apple does not use their customer data for marketing purposes. Tim Cook says that “privacy is a right,” provided to its customers. As a customer, this gives me so much comfort that while I have seriously looked at products like the Samsung Note 9 and the new Google Pixel Phone 3 coming out, it is what Apple does best! Apple protects customer data.

Protecting customer data is the number 1 reason I keep going back to Apple, Inc.

Parting shot: Ever notice how most Apple customers will pick a particular product and say that “this is the best product that Apple ever made.” Right now I have an Apple iPhone 7plus that works perfectly, and I anticipate that I’ll keep it for at least one more year.

The big seller? I think that Apple’s new iPhone Xr with a starting price of 749.00 dollars USD. This phone is remarkable for what it does, and the phone is at the right price point.

Apple’s privacy stance is a huge ‘competitive advantage’ over Facebook and Google (AAPL)

Apple’s business model focuses primarily on making money through its hardware, instead of on internet and software, which creates a heavy reliance on advertising for revenue. That makes it largely insulate the company from the European Union’s strict privacy protection laws. 

“Although Apple sometimes speaks of privacy on moral grounds—Tim Cook says ‘privacy is a fundamental human right’—its business model makes emphasizing privacy easier than for Google or Facebook,” Steven Milunovich, a UBS analyst, wrote in a note to clients.

Google and Facebook, on the other hand, will likely feel more pain because of their heavy reliance on advertising to drive revenues, Milunovich says. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect on May 25, will restrict the kinds of data that companies can collect and requires consumers to opt-in to marketing campaigns, as well as give users more of a choice in what they would like to disclose. A Deutsche Bank analyst said the law could even wipe out as much as $2 billion from Google’s revenues, for instance.

By contrast, Apple’s privacy policy does not allow its users’ data to be shared for marketing purposes, and it could turn out to be the company’s biggest “competitive advantage,” Milunovich says.

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