Fred Wilson: Apple Is 'Evil,' Facebook Is Just A 'Photo-Sharing Site'

Prominent venture capitalist Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures and an investor in Twitter and Foursquare, among other startups, took the stage Wednesday at the Geo-Loco conference in San Francisco.

Wilson spoke in a "fun and controversial" tone about some notable tech firms, including Facebook, Apple, Google, and Twitter.

"Facebook is a photo-sharing site, really. Maybe with some chat attached to it," Wilson said of the social network, which celebrated its 500 millionth user on Wednesday.

He took a moment to recognize Facebook as a "juggernaut," but went on to say he doubts the significance of its Open Graph API, introduced in March 2010. "Everybody's got a social graph," he said. "Every large-scale web app has a social graph. I don't think Facebook's social graph is anything to be scared of."

Wilson was critical of Yahoo for partnering with Facebook and integrating the Facebook News Feed onto the Yahoo homepage. Wilson called the move a "capitulation" and a "shame." He also joked that Google should purchase Facebook, adding that, in his opinion, Google hasn't done anything "truly transformative for the Web" since GMail.

Wilson described Apple as "evil," a remark that sparked considerable buzz (although, as Robert Scoble tweeted and the video below shows, at the time, the crowd "erupted in applause and laughter.") "They believe they know what's best for you and me, and I think that's evil," he explained. Gigaom adds that Wilson said he "worries that Apple owns the mobile app marketplace and the minds of mobile developers." Wilson also called Microsoft a "dinosaur."

Wilson later clarified the tone of his remarks. "I do believe, at least in some way, in everything I said. But please understand that I was consciously trying to be on the edge," he told VentureBeat.

He also spoke about the current state of venture capitalism, Twitter, Gowalla, and Foursquare. Read more about his remarks here.

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Comments

[coolhappened]

07:41 AM on 07/26/2010

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[imfedup]

03:59 PM on 07/24/2010

Ohhhhhh! Venture capitalist! I didn't think he looked like a Viet Cong . . .

[Tarich]

10:14 AM on 07/24/2010

Finally. I've been calling Apple evil for years. And that doesn't mean I love google or worship at the throne of MS or anything of the sort. The level of control Jobs seeks to exercise over his iMinions is nothing short of disturbing. I don't want to be forced to accept arbitrary rules that will inevitably, shamelessly affect objectivity and opinion the world over. http://bit.ly/bmG2gR

[philp71]

03:23 PM on 07/25/2010

oh you got an er*ction when you read this , your life must be meaningless if you care so much about apple fanboys like myself, i will only buy apple, i even did it in the 90's when things were bad for them, so why do you care you must be jealous

[UhOh1]

10:29 PM on 07/23/2010

thank god someone speaks his mind.

[philp71]

03:25 PM on 07/25/2010

right, i will speak my mind microsoft is a trash company that doesn't care about you

[Dr Zanzibar]

12:13 AM on 07/26/2010

On the other hand, Apple will care about you with an Apple Care Program: just $34.99 a month.

[RedandGreen]

09:03 PM on 07/23/2010

There has never been more clear proof that our U.S. public must have somethings or someones to hate. Whether it is about race, ethnicity, national identity, political difference, religion, you name it. Now, for whatever reason, the country appears on a "bash Steve Jobs" mission. Every day on the web I read about Steve Jobs and MAC products bashed about one thing or another. Speak of fanaticism! I can't see how anywhere in the world, there are more fanatics than right here in the old U.S. of A.

[breakfast]

03:42 PM on 07/23/2010

I don't have much experience with Apple, but I think Microsoft is evil.

[RLDAVIS70]

09:15 AM on 07/23/2010

I agree Apple is evil! Any company that uses slave labor in China is evil!

[JohnSawyer]

12:50 AM on 07/24/2010

Then a lot of companies worldwide are evil (no news there).

[jozie]

07:08 AM on 07/23/2010

I personally don't care what any V.C. has to say; his opinions are driven by the investments he currently has. But I have to marvel at the brand loyalty of the posters. The Apple loyalists are almost Stepford-like in their allegiance to the company. It's definitely a love or hate kind of thing; whereas, we can all agree to hate Microsoft, although very few of us go a single day without using one or more of their products. I wish people hated me so much, I'd cry all the way to the bank. And, while I use many tech products on a daily basis, Apple is the only one who had a security breach that personally affected me and I got to find out first hand how little they care about security or their customers.. So, I guess I've been lucky, or careful, or a little of both.

[gmlang]

10:55 PM on 07/22/2010

You could use HP Tech to play a drinking game. For every anti-Apple story that's posted, take a drink.

You'll be hammered in under 15 minutes. WTF?

[Dr Zanzibar]

12:15 AM on 07/26/2010

43 seconds to blackout belligerency for every puff piece on them though.

[Michael Briggs]

07:32 PM on 07/22/2010

In my daily clothing tweet from Apple, Steve said that Apple does not automatically know what is best for its customers. It also said that I was to wear the jeans and black tee shirt that Steve approved last month for summer wear. I love Apple. I really do. Really.

[Cryostatic]

03:08 PM on 07/22/2010

Apple is evil, yes.

But most capitalists generally are. It's how they got the capital to be capitalists.

And in any case, his tone was generally jocular. He's not seriously trying to cast Jobs as Satan or anything.

[Buckywunder]

02:10 PM on 07/22/2010

Who?

It's easy to take shots at the big boys. When this guy has shown 1/100th of the innovation and creativity of Apple, get back to us.

[Alien Nation]

08:41 AM on 07/23/2010

When Apple funds 1/100th of the startups this guy has maybe we'll take Apple seriously.

[Tblack]

11:08 AM on 07/23/2010

lol..seriously..and what he said about Apple thinking they know what's best for is spot on. Making popular products does not make you global parent material.

[StevieTheK]

07:05 AM on 07/24/2010

There's nothing to fund without innovation & creativity

[Tarich]

10:15 AM on 07/24/2010

us? hmm. sounding rather cultish there Bucky.

[KennyT]

01:26 PM on 07/22/2010

I know that many of us may have an opinion about one company or the other, but really, consider the source. This guy's firm is invested in companies that are competitors with every company he mentioned. His only interest here is speaking about his competitors in ways that get into the press. We can all argue about our preferences in other forums, but don't take the bait here. This guy is just arrogant and self-serving.

[ramal]

01:13 PM on 07/22/2010

No, Eve was evil.

[RattleCat]

01:59 PM on 07/22/2010

Ha! Funny!

[Master-T]

12:58 PM on 07/22/2010

His comments are all on the money. Especially about Apple. Jobs wants to control everyone through his products. Thanks, but no thanks Jobs.

MS is dinosaur, that's true. They'll survive a long time, but they're more irrelevant by the day.

[RattleCat]

01:05 PM on 07/22/2010

I have to disagree with his Google comment though. Nothing special about Gmail. Google's only real innovation continues to be its search algorithms.

[Cryostatic]

03:05 PM on 07/22/2010

Once you start taking advantage of Gmail's full capabilities (primarily filtering and labeling) the innovation begins to shine through. Granted, Outlook and others have similar features, but Google manages to make the process simpler and much more intuitive.

[miles120]

01:32 PM on 07/22/2010

Does he control you? No? Then what's the problem, other than you don't like Apple?