Apple – Press Info – Apple Q&A on Location Data

Apple would like to respond to the questions we have recently received about the gathering and use of location information by our devices.

I criticized Apple for this delayed response, but they seemed to have played it strategically, burying it along with simultaneous releases about the white iPhone 4 and increased iPad availability.

The quick summary seems to be:

• Apple is collecting location data and storing it on your iPhone. It’s not your location per se, they argue, but the location of nearby cell towers and WiFi base stations (a minor distinction).
• This data is sent anonymously to Apple and cached locally on your phone to improve performance of location services.

Some obvious questions come up:

• Why does Apple store so much historical data, up to a year’s worth?
• Why does Apple store this data at all if location services are turned off?

Apple’s answer is that these are bugs and will be addressed in a software update (it seems more likely that it’s just become a liability now). Apple also says they plan on excluding this data from the iPhone’s backup and, eventually, encrypting it on the device itself.

I’m struck by how poorly written the release is and by its use of jargon (“crowd-sourced” is used several times). This could be sloppiness due to the rapid response, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was intentional, so the message becomes:

We’re not tracking you. This hubub is all about some complex technical stuff you don’t understand. Any concerns will soon be addressed. It’s safe to buy the new white iPhone 4: go for it!

Aside: a more interesting reveal was that Apple is collecting traffic data for a future traffic service. I’m sure Google Maps will be gone as a standard app by iOS 6 or sooner.

The latest media buzz about the iPhone surrounds the discovery (or rediscovery, as it turns out) that the iPhone stores a history of the location’s your phone has been in a local database. There has been a lot of confusion about what’s actually going on here, so, as Obama says, let’s be clear:

• The iPhone keeps a location history in a database stored on the device itself.
• Like everything else on your iPhone, this is backed up to your computer when you sync with iTunes.
• You have the option to encrypt your iPhone backup, including this database, but you have to turn this on by checking an option in iTunes.
• This location information likely already exists, even if you don’t use an iPhone, with your wireless carrier, since they know which cell phone towers your phone has connected to, and when.
• If you don’t encrypt your backup, and someone got access to your computer account, and they knew how to interpret the location data in this file, they could theoretically determine where you (or at least your phone) have been.
• There is no evidence that this location database is being transmitted anywhere other than to your computer (when you sync).

The last item is what has some people spooked, but it seems a bit ridiculous to me. If someone got access to my computer, there is a lot of more valuable information than my location history that they would gain access to. To prevent this, I password protect and encrypt my home directory (and I suggest you do to), but this is not because of any particular risk around my location database.

A bigger issue, however, is that Apple’s PR has been totally inept at responding to this issue, allowing it to fester in the media and spread uncontrolled without any clear message about the facts. This, in the age of instant communication, is a major blunder.

Red Sweater Blog – MarsEdit 3.2.2

MarsEdit 3.2.2, an extremely minimal update to 3.2.1, which nonetheless fixes some importantly frustrating bugs, has been rejected by Apple for alleged violations of their policies that I can’t yet make sense of. Rather than postpone indefinitely the availability of this release while I work out the issues with Apple, I’m making it available immediately to all customers.

A follow up on my earlier post, one major issue Apple has to deal with is developer frustration surrounding the approval process. Minor updates to existing (and rather non-controversial) software shouldn’t be subject to the random whims of the reviewer-of-the-day. I imagine this sort of thing is the kind of issue that keeps some developers out of the App Store. Apple needs to fix this. Unlike in the iOS world, developers have alternatives. Forcing users to look elsewhere for the software they want greatly diminishes the appeal of the App Store.

I admit that I may have been a bit skeptical about the added value of the Mac App Store at first, particularly for those already adept at finding Mac apps, but I have to admit that it’s been a huge boon…so much so that I’m now reluctant to buy apps outside of the store.

The main advantages are:

• No complex licensing issues or serial numbers – your apps are easy to install on all your machines
• A centralized system for updates.
• Reviews

Of course, the it also makes it easier to find new apps, but that’s a secondary advantage in my mind.

I wish updates were pushed more aggressively. As it stands, you have to run the Mac App Store app to get the updates. Still, it’s a significant step in the right direction.

Delayed.

That’s what everyone is saying anyway.

The usual routine of April iOS preview and June iPhone release appears to have been altered for this year.

Why?

It’s possible it’s just a development delay. Problems happen. Devleopers get pulled into other projects. But I think this “delay” represents something more. Now both iOS5 and the iPhone 5 are expected some time in the late summer/early fall timeframe. I expect there are big reasons for each delay.

iOS5 – This has GOT to be big. The steps with each of the past OS updates have been noteworthy, but the UI is showing signs of age. Notifications are a real issue with iOS4 (try opening Mail with multiple accounts when you have no internet connectivity). Expanded control sounds like a real possibility. A new maps app is also possible. Expanded multitasking is a near certainty. Plus, there’s the support that’s needed for any new hardware features in the iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 – The delay further increases the likelihood that we’ll see NFC in the next iPhone. Apple is in a race with Google and can’t afford to wait too long. The big question here is LTE. The risk in jumping to LTE too early is that the chipsets are immature, the battery usage is significant, and the coverage is limited. Apple doesn’t need to be the first one out of the gate here, but a fall release makes LTE far more likely.

AppleInsider | Wireless NFC e-wallet won’t be a part of Apple’s iPhone 5 – rumor

Citing sources with “several” mobile operators in the U.K., The Independent reported Monday that Apple recently held meetings in which it disclosed it will not include NFC technology in the next iPhone. The inclusion of NFC technology like radio-frequency identification, or RFID, can allow mobile devices to serve as an electronic wallet, letting users authorize transactions without using their credit card.

While disappointing, this is not really surprising. Apple does like to the act as the driver of new technology, as they did with USB. However, they also are fond of holding off on releasing new technology before it’s ready. The infrastructure is probably just not there to make this a reality for June.

Another Apple event today. Here’s what I’m guessing we’ll see:

The iPad 2. I suspect it will just be called iPad.

• I think we’ll see WiFi and 3G models, and the same 3G model will work on either Verizon or AT&T.
• The screen will be the same resolution as the current iPad.
• It will be thinner, lighter, have a better speaker, but no other major external changes.
• The OS will be 4.3.
• It will have a faster processor and 512 MB of RAM.
• Storage will be 16, 32, and 64 GB. It will have a faster processor
• It will have cameras, though these could be eliminated on the low end model
• I could see the low end model dropping to $399.
• it will ship within the next 30 days, possibly immediately.

What else will we see?

I think Apple will announce that the white iPhone 4 will also begin shipping this month.

iOS5 preview? Possible, but I could also imagine not seeing it at this event. It may be too distracting.

I do think we’ll get some sort of MobileMe announcement with new features that are going to be available soon. Some level of MobileMe access will become free with your iOS device.

No one knows exactly what Steve Jobs is facing, but it’s clear that he’s going to be out of the picture for a while and, sooner or later, Apple will need to find its way without its leader.

Apple clearly has a lot of brilliant people in the company, but it takes a leader to give the company focus and nurture products from interesting concepts to a cohesive array of products.

Scully was not a bad leader, allowing the Mac line to diversify in the late 80s. The Newton was a brilliant product. It was revolutionary in many ways, but it was released too early and suffered tremendously for it, largely due to scathing critique of its immature handwriting recognition. Jobs avoided giving the iPad the same fate – I’m sure a functional iPad was ready years ago, but the market would not have been ready, the price would have been wrong, or some other barrier could have doomed the line.

Who takes over that role in Jobs absence…the ability to say no to products that aren’t ready or don’t fit in? Cook sounds like a fantastic operational executive, but you can’t streamline your way to innovation. Schiller is not the pitchman that Jobs is, but he’s better than many. Ive can create brilliant industrial design on the hardware end, but what about software? Forstall seems like the software counterpart to Ive. The talent is there, but its spread among many people – who has the force of personality to make things happen the way they need to?

I’m not particularly optimistic. In the short term, it won’t matter, but Apple needs a new visionary at the helm. Perhaps one of the current crop of leaders can take this role, but we won’t know until Jobs is really gone – Jobs will get the credit until its clear that someone else is doing the heavy lifting.

When doing any sort of development that involves services that return XML, I’ve been frustrated in the past by Safari’s lack of native XML display (in contrast to, say, Firefox).

The XML View Plugin solves the problem and apparently also supports JSON.

I’ve had a few problems with dropped calls occasionally on AT&T, but I thought most of the complaints about the service’s quality were overstated.

Google Voice proved me wrong.

You’ll know if you drop a call, but, unless the caller tells you, you won’t know if a call never made it to your phone at all. Unless you sign up for Google Voice.

Many people use Google Voice’s unique number to forward calls to multiple phones, but Google Voice gives you the option of activating something called “Google Voicemail”, which ostensibly lets Google Voice grab voicemails sent to your phone and process them through Google’s speech-to-text converter.

But it also intercepts your missed call notifications and converts these to emails. Even if your phone doesn’t have reception, it will still generate an email. The result: you may find, as I did, you’re missing a lot more calls than you realized. That Verizon iPhone is sounding more appealing.