Steve Jobs once called Facebook ‘Fecebooks’

Steve Jobs once called Facebook ‘Fecebooks’

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Typo? Or cutting insult? Apple’s former CEO once used the term “Fecebooks.”
Photo: Cult of Mac

Disagreements between Apple and Facebook have made headlines recently, but bad blood between the two companies dates back decades. In 2011, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs even called the social-networking service “Fecebooks.”

It’s possible this is a simple typo. But what Jobs wrote is remarkably close to merging “feces” with Facebook. This might be a Freudian slip.

Or perhaps not. Jobs reportedly admired Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. Zuckerberg claims Jobs gave him advice on starting his company.

But any friendship between the two men clearly stopped at the office door. Jobs used “Fecebooks” during an internal series of emails about whether the social-media giant should be allowed to build games into the Facebook application for iPhone and iPad. Apple eventually denied the proposal.

The conversation was brought to light by the ongoing court battle between Apple and Epic Games.

Apple vs. Facebook goes on

Facebook’s primary business is advertising. It collects all the personal data it can about the people who use its social-networking service, then sells that data to advertisers. Apple, on the other hand, takes a strong stance on personal privacy. The friction between these two approaches caused Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook to butt heads with Zuckerberg.

Most recently, Apple added App Tracking Transparency to iPhone and iPad. This privacy feature in iOS 14.5 requires third-party applications to ask permission to before tracking users. It might cost Facebook billions of dollars.

Source: CNBC