(Reuters) – Apple Inc. said on Thursday that new privacy pop-up notifications would begin appearing on most iPhones immediately after “early spring,” a requirement that major digital advertising firms such as Facebook Inc. have warned. Oh, it will affect their business.
Single notifications will require an app developer to request a user’s permission before the app can track its activities “in other companies’ apps and websites.” Digital advertising experts believe that the warning will cause many users to refuse permission.
Apple announced the move in June last year, but said in September it would delay the change to give digital advertisers more time to adjust.
Facebook said in December that it intended to display the pop-up notification because it did not want Apple iPhone users to lose access to its applications.
In a winning call on Wednesday, Facebook executives told investors that the change could begin to affect the company’s revenue in the first quarter, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg accusing Apple of having “all the incentives to use their dominant platform to interfere with in which applications and other applications work. ”
Apple revealed on Wednesday that it has an active installed base of 1.65 billion devices, of which over 1 billion are iPhone devices, with 620 million paying subscribers on its devices.
For its part, Google, Alphabet Inc., said Tuesday that it will cease practices, including the use of a tracking identifier provided by Apple, which would require it to display the warning, thus avoiding it.
Apple said it offers free alternative technology that will help advertisers assign paid clicks and touches without engaging in what Apple considers tracking.
Google said on Tuesday it was working proactively with Apple to improve the alternative offering.
Apple said Wednesday it will launch new tools, such as a way to assign clicks on video ads.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis, Paresh Dave and Katie Paul in San Francisco; Edited by Sonya Hepinstall