When Steve Jobs took a dig at Zuckerberg's Facebook over privacy issue

The animosity between Apple and Facebook goes way back. These companies don't really compete with each other they are two mammoth technology companies and that's where their similarities end.

Almost all of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising while Apple makes most of its money by selling gadgets. Both companies pose no direct threat to each other but it seems they just cannot stand each other.

The fight began as early as 2010 when Steve Jobs the founder of Apple had a piece of advice for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

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Jobs while answering a question on user privacy, said: "Privacy means people know what they're signing up for, in plain English and repeatedly."

While he did not name Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was sitting in the audience when Steve Jobs uttered those words.

Four years after that event, Zuckerberg was the subject of a cover story in the Time magazine when the Facebook founder chose the opportunity to respond to Apple. He called Apple's take on privacy "a 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," he said.

Apple and Facebook have been fighting over users. They are competing for the attention and loyalty of users.

It seems Facebook is paranoid about the influence that Apple wields over its users.

In 2019, Apple blocked Facebook from running its internal IoS Apps. It was a nightmare for 35,000 Facebook employees. They couldn't even perform the most basic tasks at work and their calendars didn't work.

They couldn't check the company's shuttle service schedule. The reason behind the crackdown was Facebook which had launched a research app that allegedly allowed it to snoop on the online activity of users.

Apple refused to allow Facebook to run this app on its platform. Ultimately, the app was taken down. The message was clear: Facebook will not get a free pass from Apple. CEO Tim Cook has often used his public appearances to send an indirect message to Facebook.

Perhaps, it has made Mark Zuckerberg realise where the true power in the tech industry lies. Facebook makes the apps that run the world's biggest social network but Apple controls the distribution of apps.

While Android dominates the mobile computing market, Apple's IoS is second and Apple products are often seen in the hands of the wealthy and the influential.

It has a loyal customer base that remains in the Apple ecosystem. The clash between Apple and Facebook is cultural and personal.

However, now both these companies increasingly look like monopolies fighting each other to influence the future of the tech industry and dictate the rules that users must follow to keep using their innovations.