Mark Zuckerberg has spoken out against Apple ‘just kind of sitting’ on the iPhone 20 years on and what it means for developers.
The chief executive of Meta Platforms Inc. appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and it didn’t take long for him to reveal his true thoughts about the technology company. Zuckerberg praised it for ‘one of the most important inventions of all time’ in creating the iPhone but interrogated how the company still makes money.
In the clip, Zuckerberg reflects on the ‘dominant platform’ being ‘smartphones’ and, while this is ‘great’ to ‘build these tools that everyone can have in their pocket’ and ‘there’s like four billion people who use the different apps’ covered by Meta, he notes the company ‘didn’t play any role in basically building that, those phones, because it was kind of getting worked on when [he] was just trying to make the first website’.
He argues: “[Apple] have ‘used that platform [of the iPhone] to put in place a lot of rules that I think, feel arbitrary and feel like they haven’t really invented anything great in a while – Steve Jobs invented the iPhone and now they’re just kind of sitting on it 20 years later and they actually, I think year-over-year I’m not even sure they’re selling more iPhones at this point. I think the sales might actually be declining.
“I think part of it is each generation doesn’t actually get that much better so people are just taking longer to upgrade than they would before, the number of sales has generally been flat to declining. So how are they making more money as a company?
“Well, they do it by basically like squeezing people and, like you’re saying, having this 30 percent tax on developers by getting you to buy more peripherals and things that plug into it.”
For example, AirPods, which Zuckerberg praises as ‘cool,’ but says Apple have ultimately ‘thoroughly hamstrung the ability for anyone else to build something that can connect to the iPhone in the same way’.
Zuckerberg continues: “Apple has a specific protocol that they’ve built into the iPhone that allows AirPods basically to connect to it and it’s much more seamless and they’ve enabled that but they’ve not let anyone else use the protocol.
“If they did, there would probably be much better competitors to AirPods out there. And whenever you push on this they get super touchy and they basically wrap their defence of it as, ‘Well, if we let other companies plug into our thing then that would violate people’s privacy and security’.
“It’s like no, just do a better job at designing the protocol.”
Zuckerberg reflects on the whole issue as ‘wild’, but notes he’s ‘pretty optimistic that, just because [Apple] have been so off their game in terms of not really releasing many innovative things that eventually […] [it’s] just going to get beat by someone’.
UNILAD has contacted Apple for comment.
The tech war has been reignited as Mark Zuckerberg has shared his opinion on the Apple Vision Pro.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that the Meta CEO probably isn’t the biggest fan of Apple.
It makes sense, the companies are often fighting for dominion of the tech market and Zuckerberg has previously called Apple one of Facebook’s biggest competitors.
In a hilariously brazen move, Zuckerberg has conducted his own review of Apple’s latest product, the Apple Vision Pro.
Many critics have suggested this is proof the ‘end is near’ and we are moving closer to a dystopian reality like that seen in TV show Black Mirror.
However, Apple was actually late to the party as it introduced a product with features similar to one already on the market.
In fact, in his video posted to his Instagram page on February 13, Zuckerberg claimed there is a cheaper and ‘better product’ already out there.
Instagram/@zuck
In a move that is no surprise to anyone, Zuckerberg promoted his company’s own product, the Meta Quest 3, which was unveiled in June last year.
I wonder if Zuckerberg might be a little biased in his assessment since… you know… he owns everything Meta makes.
In the video, that has been liked more than 150,000 times, he said: “The different companies made different design decisions for the headsets, they have different strengths, but overall Quest is better for the vast majority of things that people use mixed reality for.
“My friend Kenny is actually capturing this video on Quest’s high resolution mixed reality passthrough right now. We are just here in my living room, you can see his browsers windows and whatever he has got running up here.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“Quest 3 does high quality pass through with big screens just like Vision Pro but we also designed it for a lot of other things.”
After trying the Apple Vision Pro, Zuckerberg proceeded to claim that his product is better for moving around, playing games, socializing as well as working out.
While much of the video was quite critical of Apple, he noted that the device did have some good features – and some that are even better than Quest 3 – such as a higher resolution screen.
However, Zuckerberg ultimately concluded that his product is seven times cheaper – as it costs just under $500 compared to Apple’s $3,500 device – has no wires that get in the way, is 120g lighter, has a wider field of view and an apparently brighter screen in comparison.
If you want to be hired by Mark Zuckerberg, there’s one thing that you must convince him of.
We’ve all seen the TikTok videos of people dancing around the office when they learn that bonuses are performance based, but you’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to master the samba to win over Zuckerberg.
As it stands, it’s said that the Facebook founder has around 70,000 people working for his company Meta – the California-based company that runs apps like Facebook (which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary), Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.
Sharing the apparent ‘test’ during a business town hall held back in 2015, the 40-year-old said, as per The Independant: “I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person.”
“It’s a pretty good test,” Zuckerberg added.
He echoed similar sentiments in a 2018 interview on the Recode Decode podcast.
“If the tables were turned and you were looking for a job, would you be comfortable working for this person,” Zuckerberg said, “then you’re doing something expedient, but you’re not doing as well as you can.”
Mark Zuckerberg will only hire people he’d personally work for (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Elsewhere he dubbed the test in question as the ‘single most important thing’ when it comes to deciding if you think someone would be good at their job.
Zuckerberg also finds critical thinking important.
Speaking to Bloomberg’s Emily Chang in recent months, the multibillionaire said the most important thing is ‘learning how to think critically and learning values when you’re young’.
Zuckerberg continued to explain that he follows this line of thought when it comes to his hiring philosophy.
He shared: “If people have shown that they can go deep and do one thing really well, then they’ve probably gained experience in, like, the art of learning something.”
Zuckerberg has around 70,000 people working for him at Meta (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
While Zuckerberg has shared the key question he asks potential hires, fellow tech mogul Bill Gates previously shared the ‘perfect’ answer to give – particularly when asked about salary expectations.
Gates says you should answer: “I hope the option package is good. I’m able to take risk and I think the company has a great future, so I prefer to get stock options even more than cash compensation.”
Imagine giving this answer as an early Apple employee… you’d currently be laughing your way to the bank.
Mark Zuckerberg breaks silence on rumors of 5000-square-foot Doomsday shelter underneath $270,000,000 house
Leaked plans revealed Mark Zuckerberg’s bunker would be soundproofed and have hidden doors
Mark Zuckerberg has broken his silence on rumors he’s built a 5000-square-foot ‘Doomsday bunker’ underneath his sprawling $270,000,000 home.
The Facebook CEO has a net worth of around $207.4 billion, according to Forbes, and a ginormous mansion (or two) on a remote island to prove it.
Although originally from New York, Zuckerberg purchased 700 acres of land on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 2014 for around $170 million.
Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004 (JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
In the years that followed, the tech and social media boss bought even more land with a vision to build a 1,400-acre compound called Koolau Ranch, and the price tag of $270 millions makes it one of the most expensive properties in the world.
Zuckerberg has been tight lipped about his project and its privacy.
According to an investigation and documents seen by Wired last year that detailed plans for the then-partially constructed estate, the entire complex is blocked off by a six-foot wall and is monitored by security – and no one working on the project is reportedly allowed to talk about it, with contractors made to sign NDAs.
An aerial view of Kauai island (Getty Images)
Still, rumors have snowballed about what’s going on over there, while sneak peeks at the plans have revealed the partially completed compound has 30 bedrooms, 30 bathrooms, two mansions and all the usual trimmings – gyms, pools, sauna, hot tub, tennis courts, cold plunges and… an ‘Ewok village’, with the total floor area spanning 57,000 square feet – the size of a professional football field.
The plans also revealed the 40-year-old’s two mansions will be ‘joined by a tunnel’ that ‘branches off into a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter’, equipped with soundproofed chambers and hidden doors that you’d see in a modern bomb shelter, or an apocalyptic sci-fi movie.
The bunker would have a living space, a mechanical room and an escape hatch that can be accessed with a ladder while a blast proof door would be made from concrete and metal.
Now, Zuckerberg has lifted the lid on whether the reports are true and if he actually has a massive Doomsday shelter in an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang.
Zuckerberg with Chang (Bloomberg Originals/YouTube)
Chang asked him whether he had a bunker under his compound, to which he said: “No, I think that’s just like a little shelter. It’s like a basement.
“We have the basic house that we built, and we built an office out there because I work out there. There’s a bunch of storage space, whatever you want to call it, a hurricane shelter or whatever.
“I think it got blown out of proportion as if the whole ranch was some kind of Doomsday bunker, which is just not true.”
Zuckerberg isn’t the only one to have reportedly started prepping for the end of the world with Kim Kardashian, Shaquille O’Neal, Tom Cruise and Bill Gates all rumoured to have build some kind of bunker or safe room.
Mark Zuckerberg defends metaverse and promises it won’t be ‘basic’
Zuckerberg addressed backlash to a recent metaverse post and promised Horizon’s graphics won’t be ‘basic’
The internet collectively rinsed Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week when he shared a dodgy photo of his metaverse avatar posing in front of a digital Eiffel tower.
The post marked the launch of VR platform Horizon Worlds in France and Spain, but many consider the graphics to be pretty poor considering the metaverse is valued at more than $200 billion, and on Friday (19 August), Zuckerberg addressed the backlash and promised Horizon’s graphics wouldn’t be ‘basic’.
Zuckerberg said: “Major updates to Horizon and avatar graphics coming soon. I’ll share more at Connect.”
He added: “Also, I know the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic – it was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch.
“The graphics in Horizon are capable of much more – even on headsets – and Horizon is improving very quickly.”
Twitter was quick to roast Zuckerberg after he posted the selfie this week, with one person calling the graphics ‘eye-gougingly ugly’.
Another added: “When you’re feeling down just remember Mark Zuckerberg spent billions on his metaverse just for it to look like a low budget snapchat filter.”
A third person quipped: “Mark Zuckerberg and Meta spent BILLIONS on their #metaverse and this is their latest update. Mind boggling.”
Back in June, Zuckerberg told CNBC that his aim is to eventually have one billion users spending time and money in his metaverse.
“We hope to basically get to around a billion people in the metaverse doing hundreds of dollars of commerce, each buying digital goods, digital content, different things to express themselves, so whether that’s clothing for their avatar or different digital goods for their virtual home or things to decorate their virtual conference room, utilities to be able to be more productive in virtual and augmented reality and across the metaverse overall,” he told CNBC’s Jim Cramer
Meta – formerly known as Facebook – has spent eye-watering amounts on ushering in the new era of digital living.
Back in 2014, Facebook forked out $2 billion to take control of virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR, according to Forbes.
Although Oculus failed to catch on, Zuckerberg told CNBC the latest version of virtual reality headsets are ‘a hit’. The latest VR headsets are Meta Quest 2, which starts at $299 as per the Meta site.
“I’ve been really happy with how that’s gone. It has exceeded my expectations,” Zuckerberg said.
“But I still think it’s going to take a while for it to get to the scale of several hundreds of millions or even billions of people in the metaverse, just because things take some time to get there.
“So that’s the north star. I think we will get there. But, you know, the other services that we run are at a somewhat larger scale already today.”
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