Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears at the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, September 25, 2024.
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dead CEO Mark Zuckerberg The tech giant criticized the rival apple for lackluster innovation efforts and “arbitrary rules” in a lengthy podcast interview on Friday.
“On the one hand, (the iPhone) was great, because almost everyone in the world has a phone, and that's what enables some pretty amazing things,” Zuckerberg said in an episode of the program. “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “But on the other hand…they've used that platform to make a lot of rules that I think are arbitrary and I feel like they haven't invented anything really great in a while. It's like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they're sitting on it 20 years later.”
Zuckerberg added that he believes iPhone sales were struggling Because consumers are taking longer to upgrade their phones because the new models are not significant improvements over previous iterations.
“So how do they make more money as a company? Well, they basically do that, like squeeze people and, as you say, put a 30% tax on developers by getting you to buy more peripherals and things that Zuckerberg said, 'Plug it in.' “You know, they make things like Air Pods, which are great, but they've completely hindered anyone else's ability to build something that can connect to an iPhone in the same way.”
Apple defends itself from opposition from other companies by saying it does not want to violate consumers' privacy and security, according to Zuckerberg. But he said the problem would be resolved if Apple overhauled its protocol, such as building in better security and using encryption.
“It's insecure because you haven't built any security into it,” Zuckerberg said. “And now you're using that as a justification for why your product can only communicate in an easy way.”
Zuckerberg said that if Apple stopped applying its “arbitrary rules,” Meta’s profits would double.
He also shot Apple Vision Pro headphonewhich had disappointing sales in the United States. Meta sells its own virtual headset called Meta Quest.
“I think Vision Pro is one of the biggest twists in doing something new that they've tried in a while,” Zuckerberg said. “And I don't want to give them too much time, because we do a lot of things where the first version isn't good, and you want to judge the third version of it. But I mean, the V1, it certainly didn't hit it out of the park.”
“I heard it's really good for watching movies,” he added.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
