Apple is reportedly preparing to double the number of employees it has in its ever-expanding digital advertising business.
The iPhone maker is looking to fill around 216 roles for its ad platform, according to The Financial Times.
Apple is seeking to employ product designers, data engineers and sales specialists, according to its job postings, with roles mostly based in the US. Though some roles are for Europe, China, India and Japan.
Apple hasn't always been against advertising; the company's founder Steve Jobs reportedly tried to launch an in-app business back in 2010, in a bid to keep iPhone apps free.
Plans to increase its advertising teams come just 18 months after Apple made sweeping changes to its privacy rules. These made it difficult for rival companies to tailor ads toward iPhone users and companies such as Meta, Snap and Twitter are thought to have lost billions due to the changes.
Apple's own ad business, however, has grown significantly raking in around $5 billion this year and is estimated to have around $30 billion within four years, according to the research group Evercore ISI. Compared to Google and Facebook, which both brought in $209 billion and $115 billion respectively, Apple's revenue is still small but it has, according to rivals, the ability to set different privacy rules that can accelerate its growth.
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Apple has been a heavy critic of tech companies that offer 'free' services while profiting off personal data for targeted advertising. CEO Tim Cook has even said that the company could make "a tonne of money" if it did choose to monetise customers, though it has elected not to.
Apple hasn't always been against advertising; the company's founder Steve Jobs reportedly tried to launch an in-app business back in 2010, in a bid to keep iPhone apps free. Cook's issue with targeted ads is how personal information is bought and sold by third parties without the consent of iPhone users. However, Apple citing issues with it and then changing the rules for how it works in a way that benefits the company could be somewhat problematic.
