Apple CEO Tim Cook took multiple swipes at Facebook on Monday over apparent differences in company practices, as the head of the smartphone manufacturing giant seems committed in trying to keep the negative attention on its Silicon Valley rival.
While not in the same exact realm of business, Cook apparently seems to think the two tech giants as competitive enough to openly share his criticism — either that or he sees it as his duty to express his thoughts. He said that Facebook’s data collection actions, which has gotten it in trouble recently, are so beyond Apple’s domain. But his company was recently accused in a New York Times report of coordinating with Facebook for data-sharing initiatives.
“The things mentioned in the Times article about relationship statuses and all these kinds of stuff, this is so foreign to us, and not data that we have ever received at all or requested — zero,” Cook told NPR in response. “What we did was we integrated the ability to share in the operating system, make it simple to share a photo and that sort of thing,” he continued, echoing similar sentiments of others in the industry who argue that information sharing makes services better.
“So it’s a convenience for the user. We weren’t in the data business. We’ve never been in the data business.”