Mark Zuckerberg has had some choice words for Apple's CEO Tim Cook over a piece that he wrote about privacy - he was critical of advertising-funded tech companies.
Mr Cook wrote: “When an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product.” In another interview Tim Cook warned: "If [companies are] making money mainly by collecting gobs of personal data, I think you have a right to be worried."
It is thought that the remarks were primarily aimed at Google. Apple is competing with the company in a number of markets - but Mr Zuckerberg took exception to the sentiment. In a broad ranging feature interview with Lev Grossman for Time Magazine, he responded to Mr Cook:
“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.”
He continues, “I think 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.”
His basic message seems to be that Apple doesn't love you - you're just another customer. Talking about Apple Pay in October of this year, Tim Cook made the comment: "You are only relevant as a retailer or merchant if your customers love you," he was explaining how he thought brand loyalty would help Apple to become the world's go-to mobile payment provider.
The bottom line of nearly every corporate advertising campaign or PR drive is to make consumers feel an emotional connection with a brand - this is something that Apple has been very successful at.
Lev Grossman comments that Mark Zuckerberg showed rare signs of agitation when discussing the topic.
Apple recently suffered a major privacy breach when hackers broke into its iCloud service and stole and published naked photos of a number of celebrities.
Mr Zuckerberg's Apple remarks were made as part of a reply to a question about Ello, the ad-free social network. Ello is marketing itself as an alternative to both Facebook and Twitter. Ello promise users that it will not sell any of their personal information to advertisers.
Its 'manifesto' states - "Your social network is owned by advertisers. Every post you share, every friend you make, and every link you follow is tracked, recorded, and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold."
The Facebook CEO defended his site's model - reiterating that it offers a free service that connects users across the world.
The bulk of the interview revolves around Mark Zuckerberg's involvement with the group Internet.org - a collaboration between Facebook, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Samsung and Nokia which hopes to spread internet access to regions of the world which are currently not online.
