A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realise that when an online service is free, you're not the customer. You're the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn't come at the expense of your privacy.

Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don't build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don't "monetize" 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. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.

Our commitment to protecting your privacy comes from a deep respect for our customers. We know that your trust doesn't come easy. That's why we have and always will work as hard as we can to earn and keep it.

This is part of Apple's Tim Cook's open letter to customers.

Today, digital privacy comes at a price. It is constantly a trade-off to decide whether to pay for a service with money or with attention to ads and interruptions that come in your way of using the service.

And a lot of people are still comfortable paying with their attention to ads and promotions targeted at them based on their behaviour that Apple doesn't keep track of.

Apple on one hand, and Google and Facebook on the other, are selling to different market segments. Tim Cook appears to be trying to poach some customers from the other segment, and will succeed as the disposable incomes of customers grows making the trade-off decision easier.