Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke to Joe Rogan in a recent interview where he slammed Apple for its lack of recent innovation and restrictive policies, stating the tech giant relies on past successes without introducing new, significant products.
On the latest episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called out Apple for its recent path of innovation, stating that the tech giant has been “coasting” off past successes with little in terms of new and significant products.
Zuckerberg said, “Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they just kind of just sit on it 20 years later.” Even though he does admit that an iPhone is probably “one of the most important inventions probably of all time,” he maintained that Apple’s current policies are restricting and preventing it from competing against others.
Much of the conversation focused on Apple’s policies for the App Store, mainly the 30% cut in every transaction. Rogan and Zuckerberg both denounced this fee as “insane.” Zuckerberg said these “arbitrary” rules have hurt Meta’s profitability, surmising that if such limitations did not exist, the company could “make twice as much profit.”
Beyond the financial side, Zuckerberg feared that Apple had a closed ecosystem, which further limited the capability of third-party products to be integrated with an iPhone. Zuckerberg argued that since Apple has its proprietary protocols, other companies cannot produce accessories that work well with iPhones, and in turn, slow down innovation within the tech sector.
Further, Zuckerberg shared the vision for technology’s future in neural interfaces and augmented reality (AR). Zuckerberg imagines that one day humans will live among two worlds that are intertwined by a very advanced form of wearable technology, which blends the physical world with the digital. This also falls in line with Meta’s current investments into AR and virtual reality (VR) platforms and makes the company a competitor for the race that would develop the next major computing platform.
Apple did not publicly respond to the remarks of Zuckerberg. Its App Store policies remain under attack, and there is growing pressure on the company to open the ecosystem further to more competition. Still, Apple remains wedded to the idea that a controlled ecosystem is necessary for securing user data and their privacy.
This exchange showcases that the ongoing war between Meta and Apple will further the leadership both in innovation and technological capabilities and control the future interaction.
