Tim Cook: Your personal data is safe with us
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Apple wants its customers to know that it's in the business of making great products, not using their private data for financial gain.
In an open letter to Apple customers, penned by CEO Tim Cook and posted to Apple's website late Wednesday, the Cupertino tech darling took swings at its rivals, particularly Google and Facebook regarding their privacy policies.
'We don't build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers,' Cook said. 'We don't 'monetize' the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don't read your email or your messages to get information to market to you.'
Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This comes several weeks after the iCloud was hacked and a series of nude celebrity photos leaked to the public. It also comes a week after Apple introduced a new payment platform, Apple Pay, as well as the Apple Watch, which Cook repeatedly called 'intimate.'
The comments are clearly an effort to calm fears ahead of the October launch of Apple Pay, which will enable customers to store their debit cards securely on Apple mobile devices and make one-touch payments with their phones.
Several banks, including Bank of America and Capital One issued emails to customers on Wednesday advertising the new Apple Pay feature and detailing steps on how to sign up when it officially rolls out next month.
Ok... @tim_cook got some swagger. Going in hard on @google http://t.co/frvxUY5Im0
- jason (@Jason) September 18, 2014
As part of this, Apple recently pledged to beef up security, including enacting two-factor authentication on its accounts. Tim Cook on Wednesday said Apple plans to educate customers on how their personal information is handled, what Apple is and is not collecting, and why.
The comments come as a direct hit to Google and Facebook, which have both faced heavy criticism for trading user data for advertising dollars. Facebook's new messenger app, for example, has come under fire for allowing the social network to edit, receive, read and send SMS messages on behalf of the user.
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, weighing in on a proposed settlement between Google and the European Union on Wednesday regarding privacy, called Google a 'platform for piracy.' News Corp. is the parent of Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch.
'A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you're not the customer. You're the product,' Cook said. 'At Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn't come at the expense of your privacy.'
Apple does, of course, have an advertising business. Through iAd, Apple provides developers and advertisers with the mechanism to bring ads to its customers. This is the fuel that powers its free iTunes Radio service. However, Apple says iAd does not pull data from Health and HomeKit apps, Maps, Siri, iMessage, call history or the iCloud.
This is important to note as Apple dives deeper into the Internet of Things, rolling out products and services that connect every stretch of a person's life - from their home functions, heartbeats to their wallets - through its devices and systems.
Read Tim Cook's letter in its entirety here.
'Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products,' Cook said. 'Plain and simple.'
The CEO also said Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a 'backdoor' to its products and services -- another jab at its peers in Silicon Valley.
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