“The best-looking girl at the party, forced to wear a bag over her head"

Feb 19, 2014 10:09 GMT  ·  By

Apple has long stressed that it doesn’t like to store information about you that it doesn’t see fit for its business and your privacy, but who believes that, honestly?

Well, apparently everyone who works in the business knows it, according to AdAge.

“There are few companies as admired, beloved and dominant in their industries as Amazon and Apple. So when the two ventured into the ad business (Amazon in 2008 and Apple in 2010), Madison Avenue took notice,” according to the marketing publication.

However, the two companies weren’t playing ball. Not with one another, but with advertisers who wanted in on their users’ personal data, to target the ads efficiently.

“Advertising sales are a tough slog for both -- and for a lot of the same reasons. Media buyers say they are slow, cocky and downright stingy. Both take too long to develop ad products. Amazon's sales approach is too pushy; Apple is too reticent to foster relationships. Most frustrating: Neither is willing to cough up enough of the consumer data that attracts advertisers to them in the first place,” writes Kate Kaye.

Why is it so frustrating? Because both Apple and Amazon are sitting on tons of user information that could turn into huge profits if used to target just the right ad to just the right folk.

But Apple views privacy as far more important than making an extra buck from ads, according to these people.

“The lack of data both companies deliver is frustrating for marketers because these notoriously opaque giants sit atop incredible troves of information about what consumers actually buy and like, as well as who they are and where they live,” reads the report.

In fact, one person who is familiar with the matter actually said that “Apple's refusal to share data makes it the best-looking girl at the party, forced to wear a bag over her head.”