Apple’s not letting CES 2019 pass without making its presence felt.
The biggest companies in tech have descended on Las Vegas this week for CES 2019. Apple is one of the few holdouts not in attendance but that hasn’t stopped the company from sending a huge message to its competitors and customers by posting a giant billboard above the city of Las Vegas.
Apple spent a lot of time in 2018 taking Facebook and Google to task for their horrible privacy policies. It looks like 2019 will be filled with more of the same as the company’s new Vegas billboard tells visitors, “What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone.”
Here’s a shot of the simple ad:
Apple never shows up at CES, so I can’t say I saw this coming. pic.twitter.com/8jjiBSEu7z
— Chris Velazco (@chrisvelazco) January 4, 2019
The billboard is a riff off the popular phrase “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Because Apple stores most of your important personal information locally on your device, iPhone users don’t have to worry about some of that data leaking out to nefarious third-parties.
Throughout 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook called for tougher legislation to protect consumers’ privacy in the US. He frequently spoke out against companies that gobble up personal data and then monetize it.
“We believe the customer should be in control of their own information,” Cook said during a recent speech on privacy. “You might like these so-called free services, but we don’t think they’re worth having your email, your search history and now even your family photos data mined and sold off for god knows what advertising purpose. And we think some day, customers will see this for what it is.”
