"My Credit Card Number Is 0237..." Apple iPhone Once Again Emphasizes 'Privacy'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] A man boarding a bus shouts at the passengers. “This morning, I visited eight divorce lawyer websites.” A woman finding her seat in a dark movie theater tells those sitting nearby, “All my login accounts use Pauline@paulinephu.com.” A woman holding a megaphone on the street loudly recites her credit card number.

Apple iPhone has once again launched a new advertisement emphasizing the keyword 'Privacy.'

On the 3rd (local time), Apple released the 60-second iPhone commercial titled ‘Privacy. That’s iPhone. - Over Sharing’ for the first time on official accounts including YouTube, ahead of its TV broadcast this weekend. The ad imagines what would happen if you didn’t have an iPhone and your personal information was leaked as if sifted through a sieve.

IT specialist media Phone Arena described it as “an interesting new ad” and said it “shows the types of information held by the iPhone device.”

The ad begins with a man on a bus repeatedly shouting that he visited eight divorce lawyer websites just this morning. Then, two women working in an office speak loudly as if sending KakaoTalk messages. “I really enjoy working with you.” “Red heart emoji.” “Blue heart emoji.” Another woman stands on the street holding a megaphone, loudly reciting her credit card number to strangers.

The message Apple wants to convey is simple: all this information can be protected by using an iPhone. At the end of the ad, Apple displays the message, “Some things shouldn’t be shared. iPhone helps keep it that way.” For example, Phone Arena added that a woman telling a couple dining that she “purchased prenatal vitamins and four pregnancy tests at 9:16 AM on March 15” is not the kind of news most people want to share.

This is not the first time Apple has emphasized the keywords of personal information and privacy protection. As it becomes difficult to differentiate from competitors solely through design and technological innovation, the trend is to strategically leverage the privacy keyword.

At the beginning of the year, Apple returned to CES (Consumer Electronics Show) for the first time in 28 years, choosing personal information protection as its theme. Jane Horvath, Apple’s Senior Director of Global Privacy, who participated as a panelist at the CES roundtable, emphasized, “Apple considers privacy from the product design stage, and from CEO Tim Cook throughout the entire company, there is a culture that prioritizes privacy.”

At last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2019), Apple also introduced 'Sign in with Apple.' Unlike Facebook or Google, it does not provide personal information to advertising companies.

Especially recently, amid privacy controversies surrounding IT giants including Facebook’s alleged concealment of personal information leaks and increasing regulatory pressure worldwide, Apple’s emphasis on privacy protection is receiving more attention. An industry insider said, “This is not the first time Apple has linked iPhone with privacy protection, but it is once again aggressively using this keyword to differentiate itself.” Apple added a witty touch at the end of the ad by visualizing the apple leaf on the Apple logo locking like a padlock.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Apple announced it would postpone the introduction of enhanced privacy features planned for the iPhone operating system iOS this fall until early next year. When Apple announced this plan in June, Facebook expressed dissatisfaction, saying it could halve its main revenue source, advertising sales. This move is interpreted as giving application developers time to prepare for the changes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.