Apple's Tim Cook attacks Google and Facebook over privacy flaws

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has fired a new salvo against Google and Facebook, emphasising in an open letter to customers that Apple doesn’t build profiles of its users from their email content or web browsing habits “to sell to advertisers”.While not mentioning either of its two main rivals, Cook’s letter marks a clear effort by Apple to play on rising concerns around privacy and the use made of peoples’ personal data.

“Our business model is very straightforward: we sell great products,” Cook writes. “We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t ‘monetise’ the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you.”