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Not to mention that iAd probably works in a very similar way to Adwords...

Not to mention that iAd probably works in a very similar way to Adwords... "

...and I totally forgot iCloud.

Thom calm down. I have never said Google is evil - I think using such terms is juvenile and unhelpful. I do think think that trying to rationally understand what drives companies in particular directions is worthwhile and I do think that arguing that a company is being treated 'unfairly' just because a competitor responds to it's competition is juvenile. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle are all essentially ethically the same, just getting on with the hard nosed business of making their business a success. As long as they do that in a legal way then good luck to all of them.

I honestly don't know quite what you mean by "Apple pimping its 400 million credit card numbers, associated user accounts, and which magazines, videos, books, applications, and music those users look at and buy".

Do you mean does Apple collect data on what people buy through their iTunes accounts. Of course they do.

Do Apple promote the size of their ecosystem by disseminating information about it's user population size in order to attract content providers and developers - yes - so what?

Does Apple sell that data to third parties - not to my knowledge but I haven't really investigated that systematically so please feel free to post information about what Apple does with that data (that's an honest suggestion by the way and is not intended for rhetorical flourish).

Have Apple resisted third parties who wanted to use their system to collect and then sell data about iTune users - yes - that was the nub of the issue Apple had with many publishers for example.

Is collecting user data as central to Apple's business as it is to Google's - no - so if one were trying to analyse and understand what drove each company the role of user data in understanding Apple would carry far less weight than understanding the role of user date in Google. Is that a controversial thing to say in your view, it seems so obvious to me.

You seem to want to constantly suggest that I think Google is 'evil' and Apple are 'good' but I simply don't think like that. I like Apple a great deal and based on nearly thirty year of using their products I have a great affection for them but I don't think they are ethically better than any other company nor do I think that Google is ethically inferior. There just have different business models which drives different strategies. Google's business model drives it to try to undermine the business model of other companies through offering free alternatives, Apple's model drives it to try to use superior purchasing power to monopolise and secure favourable supply chains for components, neither is good or bad, they are just logical.

Thom - my motivation to post comments is mostly built on my affection for Apple, sorry if that irritates you, get over it. We all have different opinions - that's why we bother to debate stuff.

But they are, or at least just as evil as Apple. Google treats you like a product, Apple treats you like a resource. Choose your poison, or make a cocktail.



That's just sad, whether you're a stock holder or not.
They're (Google & Apple) tech companies, ffs!! It's not like they make motorcycles or guitars.