Apple now admits that iPhones store location information and plan a patch to scale back their data collection but also say it was no big deal. Steve Jobs, however, reportedly claimed “We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.”
Now Apple says storing customer Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers nearby is not really storing location information as much as it is...okay, that is storing location information. Most iPhone users are not on one-time cross-country trips along Route 66, they are in their homes, their offices and coffee shops. Google Android also does this in a more limited sense but lacks the syncing feature of Apple so it is not as intrusive.
Apple claimed that storing your location data for a year was necessary so they could make your life even more awesome.
Apple expects to release a fix in the next few weeks that will reduce storage of information. The software giant also plans to stop backing up the file from the iPhone to the user's computer, a practice that raised concerns among security experts.
