Facebook's CEO takes a shot at Apple over earlier comments that free, ad-supported services turn people into products.
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently disagrees with Apple CEO Tim Cook's claim that free services which are supported by ads turn people into products.
"A frustration I have is that a lot of people increasingly seem to equate an advertising business model with somehow being out of alignment with your customers," Zuckerberg told Time in a feature published Thursday. "It's the most ridiculous concept. What, you think because you're paying Apple that you're somehow in alignment with them? If you were in alignment with them, then they'd make their products a lot cheaper!"
In September, Cook said in an open letter posted on Apple's Privacy page that "when an online service is free, you're not the customer. You're the product." The letter was part of Apple's response to privacy concerns following a hack where several private, nude images of celebrities pilfered from Apple iCloud accounts.
"It's the most ridiculous concept. What, you think because you're paying Apple that you're somehow in alignment with them? If you were in alignment with them, then they'd make their products a lot cheaper!" Zuckerberg exclaimed.
In an open letter that was posted on the Privacy page of Apple, Cook said that in free online services, users are not the customers, but rather, the product. The letter was a component of the response of Apple in addressing concerns on privacy within their devices, after a massive hack that was able to extract several nude pictures of celebrities through iCloud accounts.
The Privacy page of Apple also looks to show how the company handles the data of its users. Except for iAd, Apple said that it is not interested in diving into the advertising business, with a business model for the company built around such an idea.
The argument between free services and paid services between companies and advocates for consumer privacy has been going on for years. Companies that offer free online services, such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo!, rely mostly on advertising revenue for their profits. In exchange for the free services, however, users are exposed to targeted ads based on the information gathered from them as they use the free service.
In the letter on Apple's Privacy page, Cook added that the company is focused on creating great products to sell to users, not building up user profiles with information retrieved from data storage systems and messages that can be bought by advertisers.
"Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don't build a profile based on your email content or Web browsing habits to sell to advertisers," Cook wrote in the September letter. "We don't 'monetize' the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don't read your email or your messages to get information to market to you.
However, the argument for free, ad-supported services is that these services provide the most benefits to customers, with the revenue generated from advertisements allowing the companies to further develop and maintain the services.
The argument between free services and paid services will likely not end any time soon. While Zuckerberg criticizes the high price of Apple products and Cook calls out advertising-based business models, such as Facebook's, only one thing is sure. Between free services and paid services, both are working pretty well for Facebook and Apple.
