Mark Zuckerberg Is Picking Fights With Apple Again. Tim Cook’s Response Is Brilliant

Mark Zuckerberg seems to have a thing for getting into online fights with fellow tech CEOs. There was the whole cage fight back-and-forth with Elon Musk, for example. For whatever reason, Zuckerberg has entered a sort of nerdy gladiator phase where he feels compelled to use social media to throw shade at his competitors.

Last month, Zuckerberg released an Instagram Reel announcing that Meta would license its newly named Horizon OS software to third-party headset makers, including Lenovo, Asus, and Microsoft. Meta wants to ensure that it can continue to control its own destiny by making its operating system the default choice for every headset, just as Android is the default choice for smartphones. 

“In every era of computing, there are always open and closed models,” Zuckerberg said. “With phones, Apple’s closed model basically won out. Phones are tightly controlled, and you’re kind of locked into what they’ll let you do. But it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Obviously, Zuckerberg is trying to make a point, though it’s worth pointing out that there are far more Android smartphones than iPhones in the world. And — to be clear — when Zuckerberg says that Phones are “tightly controlled,” he means that Apple has built specific privacy and security features that prevent developers from having free rein to track everything you do, in order to show you more personalized advertising. 

Still, it’s understandable why this is a thing Zuckerberg cares about. If you build your entire business on someone else’s platform, you run the risk that they might change the rules on you — which is what happened here. Apple has made it harder to track people, putting Meta’s business at risk. 

That explains why Zuckerberg bought Oculus in the first place — to have a platform that Meta controls. He didn’t want Meta to depend exclusively on the goodwill of companies like Apple and Google for its existence. Now, he’s making it clear that he thinks Apple’s way of doing things is wrong and throwing shade at the iPhone maker.

It’s not the first time, by the way, that Zuckerberg has tried to poke Apple over something he doesn’t like. When the Vision Pro launched, Zuckerberg recorded his own sort of review of the device. As you might expect, he thinks the Quest 3 is better. Now, he’s again going after Apple’s headset, this time over the idea that the company’s entire model is wrong.

In response, Tim Cook said, well, nothing. 

I listened to Apple’s most recent earnings call, during which Cook had the ear of analysts, investors, and journalists who cover the company. It would have been the perfect opportunity if he wanted to respond to any of Zuckerberg’s comments, but he didn’t. The same is true on social media — not a single word addressing Apple’s “closed model.” In fact, it’s been a few weeks now, and there hasn’t been a single statement, post, or response. 

Look, Cook is nothing if not disciplined. He doesn’t respond to being trolled online, even by billionaire tech founders. It’s weird that we live at a point in history where that’s a thing worth mentioning, but in an age when it seems like some people cannot pass up the opportunity to engage in every fight on social media, there is something to be said for the CEO of the world’s second-largest company just letting it go by.

The lesson here is simple — you don’t have to respond. You don’t have to take the bait. I know it seems like a radical idea, but it’s fine to just let the insult pass you by. 

To be clear, I’m not defending Apple’s model or suggesting Zuckerberg doesn’t have any good points with his criticism. I’m just suggesting that if you’re the CEO of a trillion-dollar company, you have more valuable ways to spend your time than engaging with critics on social media.

By the way, even if you aren’t the CEO of a trillion-dollar company, that’s probably still true. You have people who are counting on you to stay focused on what matters, not getting distracted by critics on social media. Your job is to remember who your most important audience is, and ignore everything else.