Apple knows where you are and plans to put that information to work.
The Cupertino company updated its privacy policy today to disclose that it may now “collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.”
The new terms of service will pop up as a prompt next time you try to download or buy anything on the iTunes store — there is currently no opt-out option. (As Cult reader Joh pointed out — iOS4 users can opt out of iAd, however, online here.)
The only service to users mentioned in the privacy policy update is the recently-announced “Find my iPhone” for MobileMe subscribers.
The clusterflug continues. If you were one of the few prospective buyers who managed to successfully order an iPhone 4 from AT&T last week before their whole untested system crashed, you may well have gotten an email from AT&T over the weekend, claiming your order had been canceled for no particular reason.
If you managed to get your order in before the colossal iPhone 4 pre-order server meltdown, be on the lookout for shipping confirmation from Apple and AT&T.
Apple started to confirm shipping notifications and FedEx tracking for the iPhone 4 yesterday, some with a June 23 deliver-by date. The official release is June 24.
Today, AT&T customers are getting some relief from iPhone 4 pre-order anxiety as shipping info and confirmation emails are being sent out.
Has your new device been confirmed as on its way yet?
Next time you leave your iPhone behind in a bar, there’s a free app from Apple that could help you find it.
The Find My iPhone app is now available for download on iTunes but requires a MobileMe account subscription.
It works like this: install the app on your “home base” (someone else’s iPhone, or an iPad, iPod Touch) and in the event that you lose your iPhone or it gets swiped, login to the app via MobileMe.
We know that there are already over 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4, but according to Boy Genius Report’s sources, that number doesn’t include iPhone 4’s that have been reserved for pick-up… and if a quick look at numbers from five Apple stores is anything to go by, that 600,000 figure might end up doubled on launch day.
• A “large” New York Apple store had over 2,200 iPhone reservations
• A “medium” sized Boston Apple store had over 800 reservations
• One store in California had over 1,000 reservations, and another in California had over 1,400
• A “small” Texas Apple store had over 900.
With AT&T’s own pre-order system experiencing a meltdown earlier this week, a lot of would-be pre-orderers went for the pick-up option instead. Expect lines at Apple Stores on the 24th to be even more bonkers than usual for a new iPhone launch.
MobileMe went down for some ‘scheduled maintenance’ last night, and when it came back up it included a whole host of new features. As well as the Mail web application now out of beta, Apple’s list of improvements includes:
Widescreen and compact views.
Rules to keep your email organized everywhere.
Single-click archiving.
Formatting toolbar.
Faster performance.
Increased security with SSL.
Support for external email addresses.
Improved junk mail filtering.
In addition to the new features, Apple has updated the login page (above) and introduced a fancy new application switcher (below) that provides a nice new way to navigate between the MobileMe web applications.
Apple have also released a Find My iPhone app that now provides you with quick and easy access to the Find My iPhone service from each one of your iOS devices. All of the web application features are included like sending a message to your device or playing a sound, locking the device and even wiping your data remotely.
Apple has been busy releasing a few of their own iOS applications this week, and as well as Find My iPhone, we’ve also seen iTunes Connect Mobile which gives application developers the ability to monitor their app’s success in the App Store from their iPhone, and the Apple Store application allowing customers to make purchases from their iPhones and schedule reservations at an Apple Retail Store.
Apple may ship a CDMA version of its popular iPhone later this year. Pegatron, an electronics manufacturer with plants in China, has received orders from the Cupertino, Calif. company to produce a CDMA version of the handset ready for fourth-quarter shipping, an industry publication reported Thursday.
If correct, the rumor appears to signal a shift by Apple away from its usual iPhone supplier, embattled Foxconn, and bolster a Wall Street Journal report that the handset maker would produce a CDMA phone this September.
Apple announced 600,000 pre-orders for iPhone 4 on Tuesday, a number “far higher” than the company anticipated.
In a short press release, the company said the unexpectedly-high demand caused many system malfunctions and apologized for any difficulties and frustration.
Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple’s new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock.
Earlier, AT&T said it had received 10-times the number of iPhone pre-orders than last year’s iPhone 3GS, and is suspending pre-orders.
“Given this unprecedented demand and our current expectations for our iPhone 4 inventory levels when the device is available June 24, we’re suspending preordering today in order to fulfill the orders we’ve already received,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegal told the New York Times. “The availability of additional inventory will determine if we can resume taking preorders.”
A day after record-breaking pre-orders for the iPhone 4 knocked both Apple and AT&T back on their heels, one prominent analyst says the Cupertino, Calif. company should prepare for record sales during the June fiscal quarter. Apple will sell 9.5 million iPhones for the period, predicts Gene Munster.
Munster, analyst with Piper Jaffray, told investors Wednesday a longer period between unveiling the new handset coupled with AT&T’s generous upgrade policy means Apple could report 9.5 million iPhone sold during the quarter, up from his previous estimate of 8.5 million.
Even though Apple’s and AT&T’s pre-ordering systems are crashing due to high demand, several people have reported success pre-ordering the iPhone 4 through the new Apple Store iPhone app.
However, that too is over-subscribed. Attempts to pre-order the iPhone through the app are returning the following message:
“Due to high demand, we are not currently accepting iPhone 4 reservations via the Apple Store app. To pre-order or reserve yours, please visit apple.com/iphone/pre-order.
But Apple and AT&T’s systems are still down, with attempts to reserve an iPhone resulting in error messages and timeouts.
Anyone had success using a different method? Radio Shack?
