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Advertising United States

An Ad Company Is Teaming Up With US Carriers To Take Over Your Lock Screen (androidpolice.com) 126

Posted by BeauHD from the ready-or-not-here-it-comes dept.
A Google-backed ad company called Glance is looking to launch in the US, and it brings media content, news, and casual games to Android lock screens. Android Police reports: If you're not familiar with Glance, you can count yourself lucky. The lock screen platform is part of the pre-installed software on many, if not most, Android phones sold in India and other Asian markets, and it has also made its way to the EU on a few select brands. Glance says that since it was launched in 2019, it has become part of over 400 million sold smartphones. The service has taken it upon itself to monetize the lock screen, pushing news and ad feeds right into people's faces before they even unlock their phones. It's a subsidiary of Indian advertising behemoth InMobi, focusing on mobile-first ads.

According to a TechCrunch report, the service is looking to launch in the US within the next two months. The company is negotiating with US carriers to look into partnerships and to become part of the out-of-the-box experience of "several smartphone models by next month." In contrast to Asia, where the company is working directly with smartphone manufacturers, Glance seems to focus on carriers in the US. This makes sense, given the iron grip mobile operators have on the smartphone market.

Based on my experience with Glance on a few Vivo review units (like the Vivo X80 Pro), the lock screen feed tries hard to become part of your routine. Occasional notifications and swipe suggestions on the lock screen nudge you to interact with it. Once you give in and open the feed, it will override your lock screen wallpaper with its content, making you change back to your preferred wallpaper manually. [...] As for the US launch, there is no word on what exactly the feed is going to look like. We would expect a healthy middle ground between the Indian and the European version in the beginning as to not put off people, though it wouldn't be surprising if the company quickly turns things up given that consumer protection is weaker in the US than in the EU. One thing is certain: An entry in the US market will give Glance the opportunity to access users with more money to spend than many in Asian countries. This should allow Glance to ask advertisers for higher prices, allowing the company to grow even faster.
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An Ad Company Is Teaming Up With US Carriers To Take Over Your Lock Screen More

An Ad Company Is Teaming Up With US Carriers To Take Over Your Lock Screen

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  • Fuggggno (Score:5, Insightful)

    by paul_engr ( 6280294 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @05:04AM (#62677334)
    No thanks

  • Who's going to pay for the damage? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @05:13AM (#62677346)

    Because one thing I can absolutely guarantee you: Malware will follow soon after.

    • Re:Who's going to pay for the damage? (Score:5, Informative)

      by night ( 28448 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @05:39AM (#62677390)

      Heh, malware is already installed by carriers. A talk at Google IO (Android devel conference) mentioned that 90% of security problems on Android phones are from what the carriers add.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by TheDarkMaster ( 1292526 )
        Carriers pervert the system like a bunch of monkeys let loose in a crystal shop. Samsung for example fills the system with a lot of junk apps and defines them as "system apps" even when they have absolutely nothing to do with system apps.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by night ( 28448 )

          Sadly true. I've also had samsung phones that felt really slow, even the home button was laggy. I switched to Cyanogen (a community based android) and it was WAY faster. It also didn't kill apps aggressively, so you could *gasp* multitask instead. Seems like Samsung was crazy aggressive on killing background apps to help with the benchmarks.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by bjwest ( 14070 )
        That's why you don't buy phones from carriers. There's a reason they're so much cheaper than buying an unlocked phone outright.

    • not to mention the damage to my phone after I throw it across the room because Glance is fucking annoying me.

    • Follow? Sounds like Glance IS malware to me.

    • This reminds me of when ad places discovered that they could use push notifications for their spam. It took third party apps, rooting, then finally Google stepping up to the place and offering a relatively quick way to block/silence those things.

      This might just be something that pushes more people towards iOS...

  • Apple would not allow it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LondoMollari ( 172563 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @05:17AM (#62677356) Homepage

    That is why some people are willing to pay a premium price over becoming an ad-slave in the Android ecosystem.

    • Re:Apple would not allow it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by night ( 28448 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @05:41AM (#62677396)

      Similarly if you buy a Pixel straight from Google (not from a carrier) you get none of the carrier specific adware/malware. No ads come from the phone itself. Sure surfing the web, youtube (without premium), and various ad supported services support ads, same as the iphone. I can't think of any case where a Pixel would show you an ad, where a iPhone wouldn't.

      • Browsing websites, Safari has an ad blocker.

        • Re:Apple would not allow it (Score:5, Insightful)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @07:27AM (#62677642) Homepage Journal

          Browsing websites, Apple users are only allowed to use Safari, whose ad blocking capabilities are grossly inferior to numerous options on Android.

          You can not spin only being able to use one browser engine as a positive.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dbialac ( 320955 )
        Don't worry, Google is busy collecting every bit of information they can about you to show you ads elsewhere.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by night ( 28448 )

          Sure, but given their ad network they are tracking you on whatever phone you use.

          • Summary of this whole thread:

            "MY chains are shinier and prettier then YOUR chains!!"

            "NUH-UH!! MY chains are shinier!"

            Here's a clue...
            You're still in fucking chains. Welcome to Kapitalist Amerika, comrade! You have been the product for years now, and they even have you paying for the privilege in most cases. Sure glad we have FreeDumbâï!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cbm64 ( 9558787 )

      That is why some people are willing to pay a premium price over becoming an ad-slave in the Android ecosystem.

      Not only are consumers paying Apple a premium, on top of that Apple's own ad business is skyrocketing because of their limitations on third party ads. Source [emarketer.com]

      • That is why some people are willing to pay a premium price over becoming an ad-slave in the Android ecosystem.

        Not only are consumers paying Apple a premium, on top of that Apple's own ad business is skyrocketing because of their limitations on third party ads. Source [emarketer.com]

        There are no ads on my iPhone's lock screen and never have been and since I don't have to pay for whatever ads I am forced to see I don't see what problem there is here which an ad blocker can't solve.

        • Same with my Android phone...

        • There are no ads on my iPhone's lock screen and never have been and since I don't have to pay for whatever ads I am forced to see

          On the contrary, you have paid Apple for an ad delivery device, on which they control who is allowed to advertise to you and how in such a way that they are the primary beneficiaries. You have literally paid Apple to monopolize advertising to you on your device. That these ads are not on the lock screen is true, but besides the point being made.

          • On the contrary, you have paid Apple for an ad delivery device, on which they control who is allowed to advertise to you and how in such a way that they are the primary beneficiaries. You have literally paid Apple to monopolize advertising to you on your device. That these ads are not on the lock screen is true, but besides the point being made.

            Outside of browsing the web, I don't believe I've ever seen an ad on my iPhone....

            I assumed it was the same on Android....but apparently I'm wrong?

            • Outside of browsing the web, I don't believe I've ever seen an ad on my iPhone....

              I assumed it was the same on Android....but apparently I'm wrong?

              When Apple harasses me to "setup iPay" every time the phone is updated, that is an ad. Every time they prompt me to buy iCloud space (any time I want to view a photo), that is an ad. Just because they are ads for Apple products doesn't mean they aren't ads.

              • When Apple harasses me to "setup iPay" every time the phone is updated, that is an ad. Every time they prompt me to buy iCloud space (any time I want to view a photo), that is an ad. Just because they are ads for Apple products doesn't mean they aren't ads.

                I don't guess I ever saw those.

                I did eventually get the Apple Card, so that I could save an extra 6% a few years ago when I bought my Mac Pro....and I did get iCloud later, to help keep my parent's phones backed up on my acct so I can help them, etc.

                Bu

    • I bought a Moto phone direct from Moto and the closest thing it had to crapware was faceboot installed on the user side, meaning I could uninstall it and have it go away and get the space back. And it was not expensive by any reasonably measurement. You do not have to overpay for your phone and be treated like a child who can't handle having a headphone port or they might stick a toothpick in it in order to not have crapware on your phone.

    • Apple is just still figuring out whether it's more profitable to sell that to carriers or to just screw you with their own ads, that's all.

      • Apple is just still figuring out whether it's more profitable to sell that to carriers or to just screw you with their own ads, that's all.

        The only Apple ads I know of are in the App Store. An App Store ad appears as a search result, and it's labeled as an ad. There's nothing in normal everyday use.
        It's of course possible there are other Apple ads I don't happen to see, but I don't know of any.

      • Apple has more at stake should they start selling ads to carriers. For better or worse, the average consumer will blame the device manufacturer for things that might be out of their control. For other OEMs and Google, a larger portion of their profits is dependent on ad revenue. Can Apple simply be greedy and take the ad revenue? Yes. But they would lose a lot of customers.

        • Lose customers over this? To whom, first of all, and if anything, Apple fans have by now shown that they put up with pretty much any kind of hoops Apple wants them to jump through just so they are allowed to continue using Apple's products.

    • Re:Apple would not allow it (Score:5, Informative)

      by dasunt ( 249686 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @08:38AM (#62677908)

      That is why some people are willing to pay a premium price over becoming an ad-slave in the Android ecosystem.

      Manufacturers do sell unlocked Android phones without ads. This has been the case for years. All you have to do is a bit of research to figure out what the near-stock Android versions are called, and plop down $200 or $300 for an unlocked phone.

      • Though I hear you, it can't work for most for the simple reason that you're proposing a path that requires thinking. Much easier to go for the fruity icon, keep the mind closed and the wallet open...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      That is why some people are willing to pay a premium price over becoming an ad-slave in the Android ecosystem.

      Which is another reason the governments of the world need to step in a curb Apple's monopolistic behaviors. It should NOT be up to Apple what carriers can and cannot do with the phones they sell.

  • I'd be lying if I said this was a surprise...
    In fact, I've been waiting for it
  • I've never really considered using a custom rom, but if this becomes normal, then byebye stock phones.

  • I got so fed up with Google deciding what I liked that I finally moved over to LineageOS. I have no complaints. My phone my way.

  • Yet another reason to buy a PIxel (or iphone) instead of any phone from a carrier with crapware.

  • "In advertising or marketing? Kill yourself." (Score:5, Insightful)

    by I am Jack's username ( 528712 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @05:50AM (#62677416)
    Bill Hicks: https://youtu.be/tHEOGrkhDp0 [youtu.be]

    If anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself. [...] there's no rationalization for what you do, and you are Satan's little helpers, okay. Kill yourself - seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good, seriously.

    No this is not a joke, you're going, "there's going to be a joke coming". There's no fucking joke coming. You are Satan's spawn filling the world with bile and garbage. You are fucked and you are fucking us. Kill yourself. [...]

    I know all the marketing people are going, "He's doing a joke." - there's no joke here whatsoever. Suck a tail-pipe, fucking hang yourself, borrow a gun from a Yank friend - I don't care how you do it. Rid the world of your evil fucking machinations.

    I know what all the marketing people are thinking right now too, "Oh, you know what Bill's doing, he's going for that anti-marketing dollar. That's a good market, he's very smart." Oh man, I am not doing that, you fucking evil scumbags! "Ooh, you know what Bill's doing now, he's going for that righteous indignation dollar. That's a big dollar. A lot of people are feeling that indignation. We've done research - huge market. He's doing a good thing." Goddammit, I'm not doing that, you scum-bags. Quit putting a goddamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by demon driver ( 1046738 )

      Yeah, but as soon as someone in advertising or marketing kills themselves, the next one will take their place. The existence of marketing and advertising is only a symptom, and it's not them who did put the dollars on fucking everything, either. It's a world-ruling economic operating system that needs advertising and marketing because under its rules profit is the one and only purpose of enterprise, and profit potential is the one and only control parameter.

      • The person doing the evil stuff is always the culprit. You can't Nuremberg your way out of it. It's not the system. It is you. Will someone else do it if you don't? Maybe, maybe not. Then they're the culprit and should follow Bill Hicks' advice.

        • The person doing the evil stuff is always the culprit.

          Right, and the person doing the most evil stuff is at the top of the organization. By the time you get down to advertisers they're just doing the most minor of evil deeds. It's nothing compared to making business decisions that do harm for profit, which is more likely as they get bigger.

          • Someone being a bigger asshole doesn't absolve you of anything. Your evil is not "nothing". In fact, bigger evil relies on you doing the dirty work.

            • In fact, bigger evil relies on you doing the dirty work.

              It also relies on you needing a job, which is why it's always promoting capitalism, which is really just a science of keeping the plebes in need.

              • You are responsible for the things you do. You are not "just following orders". Being abused does not give license to being abusive. Being exploited does not give license to exploit. It's similar to "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind", except you're not even retaliating, just being evil because other people are evil too.

                • You are responsible for the things you do.

                  Funny how you absolve the people responsible for creating the situation for their responsibility. Lick them boots harder

                  • I'm not absolving anyone. They're responsible for what they do, but their wrongdoing doesn't make yours any less wrong.

        • It is the system that produces those persons to begin with, and it does not go away by wishing those persons to kill themselves even if they all would.

          (In your logic, the prisoner would also be the culprit for a totalitarian prison system.)

    • Amen to this

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      It's not the ad, it's the method. I don't mind newspaper nor magazine ads. If I'm not interested, I keep going. I wouldn't mind web ads were they not finding new and inventive ways to be intrusive and if they didn't track. When web advertising first came around, they were simple ads, no tracking, just images. They created the problems they have today (ad blockers) and the reputation they have today.

    • Stupid position. Advertisement and marketing has a range, from the corrupt shitbags, to those who simply announce the existance of something.

      You would literally own nothing without advertising and marketing. Advertising and marketing is the listing of houses and rental properties. It is the website you Google when thinking about buying a new car, it's the collection of cloths a company choses to display in the outlet store, it's the layout of the shop that presented you the products you like.

      Now quick go ou

      • Now quick go out and buy that thing you don't know exists form the company you don't know exists, let me see you do it without advertising and marketing.

        That was true 20 years ago before search engines. When I want a car I will search, when I want a watch I will search, when I'm watching a Tv show or anything else advertisers can go kill themselves.

        Google has a shop button, they can earn their place on the shopping pages and nowhere else, and then world just got better for everyone. The twits and feces of the web have their own pages, why not ads? Sponsor content with one phrase "see our ad page", nothing else.

      • "You would literally own nothing without advertising and marketing" You're an idiot

    • The irony is whoever posted that is earning ad revenue from it. Makes you think.

  • If you can interact with it, and presumably not only view content but spend money, then...your phone isn't actually locked, is it?

    Perhaps more to the point: They want my attention, they want me to view their content, then they're paying me. Right? Right???

    No. I thought not. Another parasite that does not need to exist...

    • Off course not. That is why you answer the phone while it's locked. Any other app that requests this functionality can do the same.

  • Wow (Score:4, Funny)

    by MitchDev ( 2526834 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @06:19AM (#62677472)

    Really trying to drive users to Apple's iPhone, aren't they?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by suss ( 158993 )

      Or a Featurephone [wikipedia.org]. I just bought one to replace a 2G phone that lasted me 15 years (on the same battery), because the network will no longer support it.

  • Well if I can own a new iPhone I don't need or want it. No thanks. Actually I would pay $10/month over my $150/month to remove it. But if you say it will reduce monthly charges to zero then a lot of people might be willing to go for it. Funny how if you put your iPhone face down Siri ignores you and the display turns off.

    • Yeah, Apple copied that feature from Motorola, whose Moto Actions software will put your Moto phone into Do Not Disturb mode when placed face down. They also have a few other cool gestures including chop for flashlight and twist for phone.

  • I know a company who is going to benefit from this (Score:5, Funny)

    by ZiggyZiggyZig ( 5490070 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @07:23AM (#62677620)

    I can't wait to get a full-screen ad on my 'droid lock screen... Showing an iPhone, saying: "tired of the goddamn ads? Go Apple."

    I will click on this ad.

  • that can fuck completely off.

  • Mad magazine had many. One favorite is 'We are having a buy or die sale. That's right, you heard it correct - get your sorry a**s down to our showroom and buy our product. We know your name, we know where you live and hang out (sound of machine guns bullets' If you have not bought it - we will kill you. more guns, and fancy laser show music. Quick voiceover: Batteries, accessories and coffins not included. But seriously, the owner has the final say what and what not an OS will do, and the right to remove cr

  • GrapheneOS (Score:5, Informative)

    by garett_spencley ( 193892 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @08:55AM (#62677958) Journal

    This type of crap is why I use GrapheneOS [grapheneos.org] and try to be as Google-free and FOSS as possible on my phone. Though it's apparently possible to run Google Play Store and apps installed using it in a sandbox on an isolated profile if there's something you really need. I haven't tried that because I just want to avoid this whole mess and toxic ecosystem as much as possible. Smart phones offer a lot of benefits but they come with so much deal-breaking baggage too like ads, push notifications, single point of failure (because we do damned near everything on them), malware etc.

    GrapheneOS was founded by a security researcher and started by porting OpenBSD libc code and various kernel patches to Android and has grown since then. It's nice to feel as in control of my phone as I do my desktops and laptops running Linux.

  • So I'm sure Apple just likes this and will repost it everywhere.

  • Probably the user :-( This is why the user needs to be able to switch it off.

  • "The lock screen platform is part of the pre-installed software on many, if not most, Android phones sold in India and other Asian markets, and it has also made its way to the EU on a few select brands."

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

  • There is one simple fix to most of this, so simple (Score:4, Informative)

    by paul_engr ( 6280294 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2022 @11:38AM (#62678480)
    Don't buy fucking phones from carriers. You're getting a shit deal id you do the math. Buy an unlocked phone

  • I don't care as long as I can turn it off.

  • It all comes down to culture and ABC is fundamentally an ad company.

  • Buy an unlocked phone.

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