Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg have been some of the biggest brawlers in the tech industry in recent years.

Apple and Meta CEOs make no secret of their mutual disdain.

Cook often rants about Meta and other Internet companies that make their money primarily from online advertising and analyze massive amounts of user data.

He positions Apple as an alternative and a fighter for the privacy of its customers.

Roland Lindner

Business correspondent in New York.

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Animosity escalated when Apple built a data-gathering barrier into its iPhone software some time ago.

Users were now specifically asked if they wanted to allow apps like Meta's services Facebook or Instagram to "track" their activity on the device, and many declined.

It was a major blow to Meta's advertising business.

The company has said it will cost it $10 billion in sales this year.

And he has accused Apple of not introducing the new rules out of concern for its customers' privacy, but out of greed for profit.

"Conveniently" the group has its own advertising business and can now capitalize on having weakened its competitors.

Meta thus drew attention to Apple's activities that had previously largely remained under the public radar.

After all, the electronics group is best known for devices like the iPhone.

Amazon as a third force

For years, Google and Meta have been considered top dogs in the market for online advertising, and their position can hardly be shaken. Both companies are facing antitrust lawsuits in their American homeland.

Google generated almost $210 billion in advertising revenue last year, while Meta generated nearly $115 billion.

But business is on the move, and the Apple-Meta slugfest is just one of many clues.

He has shown that meta is vulnerable and therefore offers opportunities for competitors.

In recent years, the online retailer Amazon.com has already built up a sizeable online advertising business, and in its slipstream even traditional retailers such as Walmart are now trying to capture a piece of this market.

New online platforms such as Tiktok have emerged that are competing with the established Internet companies and aggressively getting involved in the fight for advertising budgets.

And there are other entrants to the market whose core business actually lies elsewhere, such as video service Netflix, which is in the process of developing an ad-financed version of its platform.

Within a few years, Amazon has established itself as the third force in the market for online advertising, albeit still lagging behind Google and Meta.

In 2021, the group generated advertising sales of more than $31 billion.

The business is not only growing rapidly, but should also be very profitable.

In addition to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the division for cloud computing, it has become another important pillar in the company and compensates for the low profit margins in online trading.