'Android Is A Massive Tracking Device', Said Apple In An Internal Mail Before Kicking Off Its Privacy-Focused iPhone Marketing

The ongoing Google antitrust trial has revealed that Apple Inc. AAPL once referred to Android as a “massive tracking device”, according to internal documents.

What Happened: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) disclosed new exhibits from Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google antitrust trial.

One of these exhibits included an email from Apple’s Eddy Cue to Tim Cook from 2013, which included a presentation comparing Apple’s privacy practices with those of Google.

A slide from the presentation was notably marked as Android being a “massive tracking device”.

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This presentation was a part of Cue’s testimony in the Google antitrust trial in September, and it has only recently been made public.

The DOJ alleges that Google has monopolized the search engine market by forging exclusive agreements with device manufacturers to be the default search engine on their devices.

Intriguingly, despite Apple’s depiction of Android, an internal Google email from 2016 discussing their arrangement with Apple disclosed Apple’s demand for mutual data sharing. This revelation leads to questions about the kind of user data Google could share with Apple.

Why It Matters: This is not the first instance of Apple focusing on privacy to distinguish itself from competitors like Google and Microsoft.

This internal Apple document from 2013, which labels Android as a “massive tracking device,” underlines the company’s long-standing emphasis on user data privacy. This commitment to privacy was later further amplified in Apple’s 2019 iPhone commercials, where the “privacy matters” slogan took center stage.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.