Rich Mogull, writing for Macworld, breaks down Apple’s focus on customer privacy:

Corporations generally limit their altruism to charity, not to core product and business decisions. Apple likely sees a competitive advantage in privacy, especially when its biggest direct competition comes from advertising giant Google and the enterprise-friendly Microsoft. Apple believes consumers not only desire privacy, but will increasingly value privacy as a factor in their buying decisions.

As a consumer, I value privacy for the devices I buy and the apps I use. This isn’t limited to Apple: I appreciate DuckDuckGo and its consistent prioritization of privacy and no-tracking features, and I like services based on a business model that’s not selling what I read, click, and type to others.

To some people, this doesn’t matter, and I get it. But personally, I see a customer advantage in choosing apps, hardware, and web services (whenever possible) that I feel comfortable using with clear privacy policies and user controls, and Rich explains Apple’s position well.