APPLE TO CONGRESS: We Don't Track Our Customers (AAPL)

Apple and Google appeared before a congressional panel today to explain their policies regarding location tracking in mobile devices.

Apple continued its defensive. Guy Tribble, Apple's vice president of software technology, said a glitch caused iPhones and iPads to store location data indefinitely.

Instead, the location cache was only supposed to last a week. Apple has already issued a fix to iPhone and iPad owners with an update to iOS, version 4.3.3. The update allows users to turn all location services off if they choose.

Tribble also explained that Apple only gathers information on the location of wifi hotspots and cell towers that iPhones and iPads access. All that data are completely anonymous, and Apple has no way to see who it came from.

For third-party apps sold in the app store, Tribble said Apple conducts random audits on developers to make sure they aren't stealing user location data.

Both Apple and Google recognized the importance for mobile location data, including helping with emergencies like Amber Alerts.

If you want to check out the full video of the hearing, or read Apple and Google's testimony, check out the Senate Judiciary Committee page.

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See Also:

• Apple Got Us Touching Our Phones... Will It Get Us Talking To Them, Too?
• Yes, Android Fans, Google Already Has Voice Commands -- And Rio Already Made MP3 Players
• Google: We're Activating 400,000 Android Devices Per Day

APPLE TO CONGRESS: We Don't Track Our Customers (AAPL)

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Steve Jobs On Location Data: "We Don't Track Anyone" (AAPL)

Steve Jobs has fired off one of his characteristically terse emails in response to the furor around Apple keeping location data on iPhone users.

Jobs supposedly told a MacRumors reader, "We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false."

It sure is vague, so it's hard to know what he's actually talking about here.

The information we've seen circulating is that Apple is holding onto your location data for longer than it should. That claim is easily verified by getting the file with your location data from your iPhone.

The idea that Apple is tracking people seems a bit of a stretch, but if it has location data for their iPhone, then, yes it seems like Apple could track people if it wanted.

The MacRumors reader also said in his email that he might get an Android phone since they it wouldn't track him. Jobs shot that down saying Google does track its users.

Here's the full exchange from the MacRumors reader:

Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It's kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don't track me.


Jobs: Oh yes they do. We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false.



Sent from my iPhone

Don't Miss: IT'S OFFICIAL: Apple Has Brainwashed The Whole Country -- How Else To Explain The Lack Of Outrage Over Apple's Secret Location Tracking?

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Dear Steve Jobs: Al Franken Has 9 Questions For You About Location Tracking
• AT&T Admits It Can't Handle The iPhone
• Google STILL Can't Decide What It Wants Its Music Service To Be Like

Steve Jobs On Location Data: "We Don't Track Anyone" (AAPL)

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How to Track the Future of the Music Industry

There is simply nothing like Twitter for being a fly on the wall. People sit at work and tweet about what they're doing. They tweet at night, they tweet in the morning and they tweet a lot on the weekends - find a vein of good tweets from a group of people you want to learn from, watch it over time and the world is your oyster.

That's my theory, anyway. One of the things I'm interested in tracking are the streaming music services. So tonight I built a Twitter list of people who work at Rdio, Pandora, Mog and Spotify. (Then I remembered Grooveshark!) Give it a click and you can follow it too. I'll show you how I made it below - and of course this process could be applied to any field.

Sponsor

Step 1 - I knew where the list of Rdio staff members was, because I had asked my darling virtual assistants at FancyHands by email to find it for me a few weeks ago. So tonight I sent that link to them as an example and asked them to find similar lists of staff members curated by other companies in the space. I asked for Pandora, Spotify and Mog. I remembered Grooveshark later.

Becky from Fancyhands sent me back great links for lists to Pandora and Spotify right away. The list she sent from Mog wasn't so great but no one appeared to have made a list of Mog employees yet.

Step 2 - I made a list of Mog employees by searching for them on LinkedIn. Then I trained the point-and-click database creation tool Needlebase to go to that search result page URL, click through each person's profile link, check and see if they had a Twitter profile linked there and if so scrape it for me. (My tutorial.) I created a new list of Mog employees myself and added each of those people to it.

Step 3 - I only had a small handful of Mog employees so far and I knew there were more on Twitter, so I searched for mentions of Mog in Twitter bios using Twellow. At that point I had 8 Moggers and was ready to move on with my life. Then I remembered Grooveshark and saw that they had a nice staff list they had created themselves.

Step 4 - I was complaining on Twitter today about how hard it is to splice multiple Twitter lists together and my new pal David McKinney said "try Formulists!"

I did and it was AWESOME. Click click boom, thank you Formulists, here now is a list of exactly 140 people (coincidence!) on staff at the 5 leading streaming music services:

Streaming Music Industry People

Give that link a click, follow the list, then either visit the link on your Twitter page or add it as a column in Tweetdeck or Seesmic and just like that, you'll have a front row seat for conversations between some of the hippest cats online. Hey, Team Rdio, thanks for the music - I'm so happy I subscribed!

Discuss

How to Track the Future of the Music Industry

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THE APPLE INVESTOR: Is Apple's Track Record Of Crushing Expectations Coming To An End This Year? (AAPL, NFLX)

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AAPL Slips On Downgrade 

Stocks are falling in early trading following disappointing U.S. economic news including new home constructions falling to the second lowest level on record in February as well as rising wholesale prices due to higher energy and food costs. The crisis in Japan also continues to worry investors as officials temporarily suspended work at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain at the facility. Shares of AAPL are off more than the markets on an analyst downgrade (see below). Upcoming catalysts for the stock include news regarding Steve Jobs' healthy return; iPad 2 sales updates and international launch next week; monthly NPD data to gauge Mac / iPod businesses; iPhone sales updates on new carrier Verizon, the push in China, as well as the launch of the iPhone 5 anticipated this summer; new revenue streams such as video, books / publishing and social (Ping); moving iTunes into the cloud; and the continued evolution and adoption of Apple TV. Shares of Apple trade at 14x Enterprise Value / Trailing Twelve Months Free Cash Flow (incl. long-term marketable securities).

One Rogue Analyst Downgrades Shares Of AAPL (Business Insider)
Apple is being downgraded by JMP Securities this morning from "market outperform to market perform." The reason for the downgrade? "A notable deceleration in its primary manufacturing partner Hon Hai." Hon Hai (parent of Foxconn) sales growth is decelerating, suggesting Apple's business could follow. JMP thinks iPhone sales could just be in line with expectations this year. It also sees iPad sales eating into Mac sales. Apple's track record has been to crush expectations, so if it delivers earnings that are in line, or just above estimates it could be negatively perceived affecting the stock, moving towards $300.

Wall Street Weighs In On iPad 2 Sales (The Wall Street Journal)
Here are a couple thoughts from analyst notes:

• Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray observed that lines were 104% longer at three Apple retail stores. His team counted 1,190 people in line at Apple’s 5th Ave. store at 5pm on Fri. 3/11. This compares to 730 people in line for the first iPad when it launched at 9am on Sat. 4/3/10. Mall of America, Minneapolis had 334 people vs. 105 last year.
• Maynard Um at UBS believes positive initial demand trends and broader launch could lend upside to his 6 million unit estimate this quarter and 32.9 million units for calendar 2011. Every incremental 100k iPad units equates to ~$0.01 to in fiscal second quarter EPS.
• Mark Moskowitz at J.P. Morgan is more bearish, saying that the iPad 2’s early success is a warning sign of a global tablet bubble. He expects Apple to own at least ~61% of units in 2011, but there is likely upside to this estimate given the early-stage momentum of iPad 2.
• Doug Reid at Stifel Nicolaus believes that Motorola’s Xoom remains a small, but credible player as the tablet continues to gain traction, including during the period after the launch of iPad 2. He believes many investors underestimate current demand for the many unique features available on the Xoom: Adobe Flash, 4G-upgradabliity, expandable memory via microSD slot, USB, built-in HDMI, additional sensors.
• Brian White at Ticonderoga Securities says were again lines in San Francisco and New York Apple stores yesterday as checks indicated that they received much lower quantities of iPad 2 than the initial shipments on Friday, and that they would be out of stock in a matter of hours today. Online shipping dates for iPad 2 have now stretched to 4 to 5 weeks.

Netflix Crushes iTunes In Digital Streaming / Video Market (AppleInsider)
According to The NPD Group, Netflix is the dominant player in America's digital streaming and downloadable video market, representing 61% of all viewings with Comcast running a distant second at 8%. Apple's iTunes is in a three-way tie for third place with 4%, or 15x less than Netflix. One reason Netflix's subscription-based movie business is in better shape than some may think: people can stream a lot of movies for the same monthly price. Read more at Business Insider.

Verizon Operates One In Eight, Or 12.4%, iPhones Now (Chitika)
One day after the device launched to the general public, the Verizon iPhone accounted for 3% of the U.S. iPhone base. Chitika search-based ad network has been keeping a running tally of just how many iPhones are running on both AT&T and Verizon. Using the data at hand (updated frequently), the company has calculated that almost 1 out of every 8 iPhones in the U.S., or 12.4%, are now running on Verizon Wireless' network. That didn't take long. Note: Data as of last night.

Apple Delays Japan Launch Of iPad 2 To Focus On Recovery Efforts (All Things Digital)
Respectable. Instead of launching the newest version of the iPad on March 25 with the rest of the world, Apple stores in Japan remain committed to relief efforts. The Tokyo stores have stayed open and became public communication centers after the quake. Check out an email from one of the workers. Given that many components in the tech supply chain are manufactured in Japan, there is also concern that Apple, and touchscreen availability in particular, will be impacted. Read more at Business Insider.

Daily Trader: The Bear Story On Apple, Lower Growth Rates Than Anticipated (Seeking Alpha)
Using EPS and free cash flow rates going forward for Apple of 13% and 17%, respectively, produces a fair value of $411 (pricing model). The stock is trading at a 18% discount based on yesterday's close. Apple needs to sustain the impressive growth rates but the larger the company becomes, the more difficult that will be. If the longer term average rates were cut to 10%, the fair value would drop to $349 at a minimum.

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THE APPLE INVESTOR: Is Apple's Track Record Of Crushing Expectations Coming To An End This Year? (AAPL, NFLX)

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