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Comment by piyush_soni | Hacker News Reader

I supported Apple's stand against the FBI, but believing it's purely altruistic would be simplistic and optimistic thinking at best. When safety and security are your perceived selling point, it's the best PR you can have. I'm not entirely sure about the validity of this nytimes article [1], but if we believe it, Tim Cook had asked FBI to submit their request 'in private' - but FBI did it openly, so Tim Cook 'had to' become the privacy crusader.

[1] : http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/technology/how-tim-cook-be...

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>I supported Apple's stand against the FBI, but believing it's purely altruistic would be simplistic and optimistic thinking at best. When safety and security are your perceived selling point

Only safety and security weren't Apple's "perceived selling points".

They were mostly touted for user friendliness, it just works, being the first to bring some technologies to market in a well-thought way (e.g. as opposed to crude crap for early adopters), style, high-end ("luxury") items, etc.

Safety and security are absolutely a selling point, although not one they lean hard on in their own marketing materials. But it comes up in any comparison between iOS and Android, and not without reason.

(Incidentally, why the past tense?)

>Safety and security are absolutely a selling point, although not one they lean hard on in their own marketing materials. But it comes up in any comparison between iOS and Android, and not without reason.

I think security with regard to malware (of which Android has like 90+% of all mobile malware according to surveys) was a selling point, but not safety/security in the privacy/encryption/etc way that the FBI incident was about.

That wasn't, as you say, much on Apple's marketing materials, nor was it much of a factor for the majority of buyers.

>Incidentally, why the past tense?

Because safety and security have become something of a selling point for Apple as of late (I'd say post the FBI incident), but it's not long ago they weren't.

So the past tense was meant to convey that those other things were Apple's selling points "back then", but leave the door open for security being a selling point for them now.

Tim Cook has been taking swipes at Google and Facebook for privacy issues for at least a year, prior to the FBI issue: http://fortune.com/2015/06/03/tim-cook-attacks-facebook-goog....

Most of the other things you're talking about, can now be seen with flagship products of other major companies.

User friendliness, style, high-end luxury - all major companies flagship - check.

It just works - Apple - uncheck. :) (It's largely a myth)

They were actually touting privacy as a differentiator from Android devices.

It's perfectly compatible to comply with the law and still be known for security and privacy and there's no reason Tim Cook "had to" oppose law enforcement. The only people who don't believe this is the HN crowd. This is a fraction of the people who believe Apple was in the wrong for opposing the FBI.

Yes, it's "perfectly compatible", but that also means it's "perfectly normal". And normal is no good when it comes to advertising - that's no PR. How about a company which can fight even with the government for your privacy? Now that will make the users drool.

In general I object to the line of thinking that good things are only good if done for purely altruistic motive. I'm not sure if that's exactly your line of thinking, but your comment seemed to me like it was in that direction.

One of the reasons capitalism works is that it converts customer wishes into tangible economic benefits for a company. If Tim Cook had PR as 50% of his reason for taking on the FBI--wouldn't that still great?

It was good that he took on the FBI. And it if he was responding to his customers' wishes, isn't that good too? So why would combining those be somehow bad?

Sure, Apple is undoubtedly aware of how privacy is a marketing advantage. But since we like privacy, let's not find convoluted ways to dislike Apple for trying to please us.

Not sure whether it has a name but I believe long-term thinking + egoism are undistinguishable from altruism, maybe they are even the same.

Enlightened self-interest.

That's a sort of faith that doing nice things will eventually pay for itself. Isn't that a bit naive?

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