Apple posted a first quarter revenue of $24.67 billion, as sales figures grew 83% and profit lept a staggering 95% - both new records for the company. By the end of the year, the company should exceed $100 billion in sales. for the full-year. Must be nice to get $6 billion in earnings in just a few months...
The company more than 18.5 million iPhones in the last three months - a 113% increase over last year. Mac computer sales were over 3.75 million units (a 28% increase) and close to 4.7 million iPads. Let's hope they keep making money, because there could be a hell of a backlash soon...
Security researchers have discovered that the iPhone keeps track of everywhere you go...and saves every detail, which later gets copied to the computer when the two are synchronised. The file contains not only the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates, but also a timestamp. Yes, that means anyone who stole the phone or accessed the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program. The recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system from June 2010.
In 2009, there was criticism of Google for their "Latitude" system, which allowed people to enable their mobile to give out details of their location to trusted contacts. By contrast, the iPhone system appears to record the data whether or not the user agrees. The company did not comment on why the file is created, whether it can be disabled, if if that information is transmitted to Apple itself. Security experts argue that if the data isn't required for anything, then it shouldn't be stored or archived on phones or computers, but speculate it could be to yield data for future mobile advertising targeted by location.
Apple can legitimately claim that it has permission to collect the data, based on a paragraph about "location-based services" that's barely 0.005% of the enitre 15,200-word terms and conditions for the iTunes program. It states:
"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services."
Nice loophole, which should keep them out of trouble until the info is used negatively by a legal or governmental entity. But hey, there's a reason they call it the "Cult of Apple"...
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