Tech giant Apple Inc and social networking site Facebook seems to be tied into a slugfest, with both the companies playing war of words against each other.
Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg launched a veiled attack at Apple CEO Tim Cook over his remarks on the social networking site.
Talking in context of sites like Facebook, Cook had said that free services that are supported by ads convert their users into products.
Zuckerberg criticized the high price of Apple products.
In an interview to Time, Zuckerberg said, “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.”
His full interview was published in the article “Inside Facebook’s Plan to Wire the World”.
“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 told Time.
In an open letter posted on Apple’s Privacy page, Cook had said that the users in free online services are not the customers. Rather they are the products.
The letter came as Apple’s response in addressing privacy concerns within their devices.
Recently, Apple’s iCloud service was hit by a massive hack following which many personal and nude pictures of celebrities were leaked and posted to other social forums. The incident has invited severe criticism for Apple.
This is not the first time when such a kind of argument over free and paid services has flared up. The companies and advocates have been debating over the consumer privacy concerns for years.
Companies like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo! And others mainly rely on advertising revenue for generating their profits. However, in exchange for the free services the users are mainly exposed to targeted advertisement based on the data gathered from them.
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