So Apple doesn’t collect as much data as Google. Maybe it should

This article brings to light the business model differences Tim Cook highlighted again. Apple sells and makes money from devices while Google (and its OEMs) don't make much on the hardware but Google makes money from advertising fueled by personal data.

The implicit argument was that Google's services are better because of the personal data it collects but I didn't see any solid support for this. Are google's services really that much better than others (mail, maps/navigation, search) _that_ much better than competitors because of the personal data they collect? I'd argue that most of Google's services would be just as good without the harvesting of personal data. Does gmail really need my search history to be better? Does maps need to know _my_ locations etc. or just anonymous & randomized cartography data to improve its accuracy?

I get that personal data helps the make more money but I'm not fully getting how it makes the services better. On the other hand I'd also be interested in understanding some of the hidden costs or consequences of them having all of our data.