Apple Inc. (AAPL) rejected that its iPhones are monitoring the positioning of users, addressing criticism that it was generating information to help tap the niche for location-based services [LBS].
“Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone,” the Cupertino, California-based company said in a statement Wednesday. “Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.”
In reaction to concerns related to spot tracking — which via LBS provides users of mobile devices personalized services tailored to their current location — Apple said it would release a new software upgrade designed to reduce the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database saved on its popular iPhones, stop storing that information and deleting it entirely when location-based services is turned off.
“The location data that researchers are seeing on the iPhone is not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone’s location,” Apple said.
The company plans to release the new software program within the next few weeks.
Shares of AAPL fell $2.65, or less than 1 percent, to $347.75 at 11:24 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares had gained nearly 9 percent this year before today.
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