I gateway all my devices through one computer running a stripped down kernel. Through this host I monitor all attempted network connections. I block ads and of course this means I block Apple.
Apple devices are like beacons, attempting to contact a variety of Apple servers from the moment you turn them on and continuing to "phone home" incessantly 24/7 until you turn them off. That is only one example, but to me it is the most egregious.
Apple's competititors are no better. Do users really believe that one of these companies is going to protect them?
When the owner of a Chromecast plugs it in for the first time it tries to connect to Google to patch itself and prevent the owner from jailbreaking.
Perhaps my favourite was this patent application from Apple, with the CEO as a listed inventor.
http://www.google.com/patents/US20090265214
As for "providing advertisers with guided access to your eyeball" I believe that is what the App Store system does; it lets the app developers do the providing by embedding advertising into applications (cf. operating system, as in the above application).