ONE of the announcements that came out of the recent Apple developer conference is its own single sign on service. Essentially, it's the same thing you see in a lot of websites and online services where you can sign up or sign in using your Google or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram login credentials.
In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, this development from Apple is a welcome add-on to the growing list of single sign on services. And if Apple delivers on its promise that it's more private than the current and ubiquitous presence of Facebook as a single sign on service, I think it's a refreshing thing for a lot of us who are concerned about data privacy.
Apple also said that this will be available for everybody and not just those who are in Apple ecosystem. With that in mind, there's little to fear that one needs to purchase an Apple device just to be able to use the service. My hunch here is that as long as you have an iCloud account, you should be able to use the service. And that's a good thing. There's lesser friction in getting more people to use the service. Lesser friction as well to getting more people to trust the system again.
Personally, if Apple delivers on its promises regarding this service, I'd gladly use it as my default SSO (single sign-on) for every online service I am signed I with.
But then again, it's going to be just another SSO.
Oh well. I guess we'll find out together once the service goes online.