The Real Reason Apple Wants You to Use Its Sign-in Service
Control in the guise of security
What will you trade for convenience? In this era of online life, the common answer seems to be “everything” — and that’s assuming people understand they’re making an exchange at all.
Facebook, by far the world’s most dominant social network, has built its fortunes on a complex ad-targeting system that harnesses the data provided by its users. And it’s reportedly working to integrate its diffuse messaging services — offered by WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger — on a core platform that could make it much easier for the company to learn about, and market to, billions of people who presume to be talking to one another in private. Meanwhile, it’s no big secret that Amazon is leveraging the information generated by shoppers, third-party vendors, and even open-source software developers to gain a competitive edge and extend its reach in arenas it already dominates. When it’s easy for you to use these services, it’s easy for them to grow.
Enter Apple, with its new “Sign-in” service unveiled at a conference for developers this week. The feature promises to make security easy when it launches in the fall: Click a new “Sign In with Apple” button rather than manually logging into a service like, say, Medium, and the company will authenticate your…
