location-based Archive

  • iOS 4 privacy policy updated: Apple can anonymously collect location data, you can take away iAds’ cookies

    iOS 4 privacy policy updated: Apple can anonymously collect location data, you can take away iAds’ cookies

    Posted on June 21, 2010 | No Comments
    It may not be a big deal -- Android's done it for years -- but some will no doubt be interested to learn that Apple can monitor your GPS. In the latest revision of its privacy policy, presumably updated for iOS 4, it revealed the company can anonymously track the "real-time geographic location" of devices and is free to share that data with "partners and licensees" as well. In a nutshell, that means Cupertino could potentially sell location data, but don't get in a tiff just yet -- the company says it will do so anonymously and for location-based services only.

    Speaking of sales and personally identifiable data, another addition to iOS 4 is the ad network iAd, which monitors your browsing habits and interests and serves up targeted advertisements respectively. According to the updated privacy policy, however, you don't need to let the OS do that. Simply navigate to http://oo.apple.com to shut down automated cookie collection, and you'll see boring, generic ads instead.

    iOS 4 privacy policy updated: Apple can anonymously collect location data, you can take away iAds' cookies originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Location-based mobile advertising platform AdLocal enters America with years of Japan Know-how

    Location-based mobile advertising platform AdLocal enters America with years of Japan Know-how

    Posted on December 26, 2009 | No Comments
    Mobile advertising is poised to become a huge growth area, with research firm Kelsey Group seeing the market grow from just $160 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013. eMarketer projects mobile advertising spending in the US will balloon from $648 million in 2008 to over $3.3 billion in 2013. While some believe search will account for the biggest chunk of the market, others expect geo-aware advertising, another way of bringing "relevant" ads to users, to have a bright future, too. This is where AdLocal, a location-based, self-service mobile ad platform that (re-)launched yesterday, comes in. Offered by Sunnyvale-based Cirius Technologies USA, the platform has been around in Japan since 2006, currently commanding the largest share of location-based advertising in Japan's $1 billion [PDF] mobile ad space. And now Cirius is ready to utilize the years of experience the company gained in the world's most competitive mobile market in the US (AdLocal isn't available outside America and Japan at this point). AdLocal allows advertisers to manage their campaigns and publishers to add their mobile sites or applications by themselves through a Web-based dashboard. By locating a mobile user's physical location via GPS, cell identification and other methods, the mobile ad network can tell when a consumer is close to a specific business address and then serves up ads for that business in real-time.

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