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Facebook, It's Time To Face Facts: You Need Apple More Than It Needs You

Facebook CEO and cofounder Mark Zuckerberg
JD Lasica

It's time for Facebook to go hat in hand to Apple and make a deal to get integrated into its operating systems, iOS and OS X.

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The two companies have been in a stand off for a long time.

In 2010, Steve Jobs said Facebook's "onerous terms" prevented it from being integrated into iTunes social network Ping. We're not sure if that was Steve Jobs bending the truth to his liking, or if Facebook was really asking for something outrageous.

Assuming there's some shade of truth to what Jobs said and Facebook was asking for something Apple wouldn't give, Facebook needs to drop it and accept Apple's demands.

Why? Because Apple is doing really well without Facebook. It's the most valuable company in the world. It's producing historically great earnings. People are buying iPads and iPhones in droves.

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What about Facebook? It's doing really well, too! Hundreds of millions of people are using Facebook. It has insane profit margins, and it's legitimate, big business.

So, we have two companies that doing just fine operating relatively independent of each other.

Why are we suggesting Facebook blink first, then?

Because Facebook's core mission, according to Mark Zuckerberg's letter to investors, is "to make the world more open and connected." He also said, "At Facebook, we build tools to help people connect with the people they want and share what they want, and by doing this we are extending people’s capacity to build and maintain relationships."

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Apple's core mission is to make insanely great products.

Apple doesn't need Facebook to achieve its mission. Facebook, on the other hand, needs Apple to achieve its core mission.

As Apple's integration of Twitter shows, it can be super easy to share things through iOS and OS X. If Facebook wants people sharing more, then it needs to be a part of Apple's world.

So, Facebook, it's time to go back to Apple. It's time to say, "We're ready to work with you, on your terms."

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Unless, Apple has truly outrageous terms. In which case, screw those guys. You're doing pretty well as it is.

If anyone knows what's going on between these companies, let us know at jyarow@businessinsider.com.

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