Well, Apple say that they don't actually have the data in the first place.
For example, with maps, they chop your travel into pieces with no common identifiers.
So that way, they get traffic information and can understand which routes are busy or frequently used.
But, because there's no identifiers involved and it's broken into pieces before it reaches them, even if they wanted to, they can't tie that data back to you or recreate your actual journey on a particular day.
Which in turn means they can't build a picture of where you, as an individual, go.
That's a rough paraphrase of what Apple have said, anyway.
As far as revenue streams go, they make their money from hardware and increasingly subscription services. Differentiation is important - and because of their business model, they can talk about privacy in a way that their competition cannot.
For example, with maps, they chop your travel into pieces with no common identifiers.
So that way, they get traffic information and can understand which routes are busy or frequently used.
But, because there's no identifiers involved and it's broken into pieces before it reaches them, even if they wanted to, they can't tie that data back to you or recreate your actual journey on a particular day.
Which in turn means they can't build a picture of where you, as an individual, go.
That's a rough paraphrase of what Apple have said, anyway.
As far as revenue streams go, they make their money from hardware and increasingly subscription services. Differentiation is important - and because of their business model, they can talk about privacy in a way that their competition cannot.