Mark Zuckerberg Says Apple One Of Facebook's Biggest Competitors Now

Facebook Inc FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Apple Inc AAPL has emerged as a potent competitor to the social networking giant.

What Happened: Zuckerberg used the opening statement at the company’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call to lambast the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker.

The Facebook CEO said that Apple uses its dominance to push its own services especially its messaging app — iMessage.

See also: How To Buy Facebook Stock

“iMessage is a key linchpin of their ecosystem,” remarked Zuckerberg. “It comes pre-installed on every iPhone and they preference it with private APIs and permissions, which is why iMessage is the most used messaging service in the U.S.”

Zuckerberg noted Apple’s endeavors to gain share in the apps and services segments and said the rival tech giant has “every incentive to use their dominant platform position to interfere with how our apps and other apps work, which they regularly do to preference their own.”

The executive touched on the upcoming privacy changes in iOS14 — Apple’s latest operating system for its smartphones.

Zuckerberg said it would make it harder for small businesses to reach customers using targeted advertising. 

“Apple may say they’re doing this to help people but the moves clearly track their competitor interests,” claimed Zuckerberg.

Why It Matters: Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp messengers are rival products to Apple’s iMessage.

Zuckerberg claimed in the conference call that Apple and governments have the ability to read most people’s messages on iMessage and stressed that WhatsApp was a “superior” product.

Facebook took out full-page ads in major publications such as New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post last month, targeting Apple’s privacy features in iOS14.

See Also: Facebook Says iOS 14 Will Hurt Its Business Model, Expects Audience Network Revenue To Drop 50%

The social behemoth reported Q4 2020 earnings of $3.88 per share on Wednesday beating analyst estimate of $3.22. Daily active users rose 11% year-over-year to 1.84 billion.

See Also: Apple Tops Q1 Earnings Expectations As iPhone, China Strength Lead To Record Revenues

Price Action: Facebook shares closed 3.51% lower at $272.14 on Wednesday and fell nearly 1.9% in the after-hours session to $267. On the same day, Apple shares fell almost 3.2% in the after-hours session to $137.43 after closing 0.77% lower at $142.06.

Photo courtesy: Anthony Quintano via Wikimedia