The new launches came as Apple geared for a high-profile court battle with the US government on encryption and data protection, with chief executive Tim Cook claiming that protecting privacy is an obligation for the tech giant.
In the US alone, Uber has been involved in at least 173 US lawsuits since October 2012, a review of Westlaw dockets shows, while rival Lyft has been involved in 66 and lodging service Airbnb has been a party to just 20.