As pointed out by MacRumors, Apple has seemingly let a secret slip in their Q&A post they released earlier today. The same post that is intended to put an end to the location data controversy the company is currently facing.
Here is the question and answer that has peaked interests:
What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.
So, by extrapolation, this traffic service could be built on top of a turn-by-turn directions application in iOS.
This makes sense. If you recall, all the way back in late 2009, a job posting on Apple corporate website, was looking for a software engineer with navigation software experience, that could take the Maps app “to the next level.” It’s also worth noting that Apple, in the past few years, has bought Placebase, and Poly9, both of which are location and mapping companies. Apple also weened itself off of Google’s location services, to their own in-house developed location services.
It seems Apple let something slip, I’m just not sure if it’s of the gravity everyone is hyping it to be.
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS:
