They still aren't really in the advertising business, though. Google does the advertising, and 20% seems like a pretty big number.

They make, sell, and support physical devices.

That's what's called "classic manufacturing."

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benoau 4 days ago | parent [-]

Nobody would say they aren't in the PC, tablet or audio business, yet they make more off ads than they do off Macs, iPads, headphones, speakers... everything but iPhone.

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ChrisMarshallNY 4 days ago | parent [-]

I'm skeptical of that. I think I'd need to see some hard data on it.

I spent most of my career in the hardware business. It's really odd to see so many folks unable to understand business models that make money, besides "sell data."

It really seems as if folks can't grok that companies that make money, can do so without necessarily selling data.

	▲	benoau 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		The $20ish billion was revealed through Google's antitrust. That by itself accounts for a fifth of their total annual profit, ignoring all the App Store ads, News ads etc. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/14/google-pays-apple-36percent-...