[hacknat]

I know a lot of people will side with Cook on this one, and I'm by no means a fan of Facebook (though I haven't used Facebook since 2005), but I think Zuckerberg is rightly frustrated by this. While it may be true that customers are the product when it comes to Facebook and other social-services, it doesn't necessarily follow that Apple is any more-or-less aligned with its consumers than Facebook.

[acomjean]

I think apple does look out for its customers well. If they piss us off too much (and they ride that edge) we won't come back. We pay them.

Now who is paying facebook. While you might think the service is worth having ads targeted to you, its important to realize thats how the service is being paid for. Apple protects your name from book sellers, eMagazines and music companies.

That being said Apple is trying to sell us music and mobile ads though, which makes you say hmmm.

[stephenr]

I get the feeling they run iAd simply as a way to give app developers an alternative to the privacy nightmare of googles offering.