Wealthy smartphone users are more likely to own an Apple iPhone and less likely to play games or post on Twitter than average users. According to research from The Luxury Institute, 62% of U.S. consumers earning at least $150,000 per year own a smartphone. 45% of people falling to that category own an iPhone, 35% use an Android-powered device and 25% have a BlackBerry. More than 80% of wealthy smartphone owners download mobile apps, with the most popular categories being weather (63%), news (51%), travel (42%), business/finance (39%) and sports (34%). Facebook, Angry Birds and Words With Friends are the most popular apps, however higher-income consumers use far less entertainment apps than the average smartphone user. “As you get older and have family and significant others, aging parents, and a lot more assets and investments, you’re going to need apps for far more relevant things than playing games and chatting with your peers,” The Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza noted.

[Via Reuters]

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Though box office revenues declined for the second consecutive year in 2011, a new study suggests that there is little if any correlation between United States box office revenues and illegal file-sharing facilitated by BitTorrent. Major Hollywood studios have spent tremendous resources over the years fighting digital piracy, but the recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota and Wellesley College is the latest to suggest that illegal file-sharing services have less of an impact on movie sales than had previously been conveyed, at least where U.S. box office sales are concerned. While there is some evidence that suggests a link between BitTorrent and decreased international box office sales due to the delay between U.S. openings and international openings, no such connection could be made in the U.S. ”We do not see evidence of elevated sales displacement in US box office revenue following the adoption of BitTorrent, and we suggest that delayed legal availability of the content abroad may drive the losses to piracy,” the researchers wrote. The team did not investigate the potential relationship between digital piracy and DVD sales or legal movie downloads.

[Via TorrentFreak]

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Apple pulled ahead of HP in the fourth quarter to become the largest player in the client PC market, a new report suggested Monday. The Cupertino-based company shipped more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Mac computers last quarter, and those figures represented 17% of all PCs shipped around the world during the fourth quarter. The report, which comes from market research firm Canalys, said PC shipments grew 16% annually to reach 120 million during the quarter, and the firm’s categorization of “PC” includes desktops, notebooks, netbooks and tablets in its figures. Tablets drove PC growth, however, and Canalys said the market would have declined by 0.4% without taking tablets into consideration. Read on for more.

Overall, Acer, Dell and HP lost market share while Apple and Lenovo increased their respective shares. “Currently, HP is pursuing a Windows strategy for its pad portfolio, producing enterprise-focused products, such as the recently launched Slate 2, until the launch of Windows 8,” said Canalys analyst Tim Coulling. “However, questions remain over Microsoft’s entry into the consumer pad space. While early demonstrations of the Window 8 operating system seem promising, Microsoft must focus its efforts on creating an intuitive user experience that is far less resource intensive.”

Another Canalys analyst, Michael Kauh, said that he expects to see “limited adoption” of new thinner and lighter Intel-powered ultrabooks during the first half of this year but that adoption should increase in the second half as prices fall. ”In the short term though, vendors will experience more pressure in the netbook and notebook segments, especially with Apple’s annual iPad refresh approaching,” Kauh said. Canalys’s full press release follows below.

Apple storms past HP to lead global PC market

120 million PCs shipped globally in Q4 2011, up 16% year-on-year

Shanhai, Palo Alto, Singapore and Reading – Monday, 30 January 2012

Canalys today announced that Apple, after reporting stellar results, became the leading worldwide client PC vendor in Q4 2011. Apple shipped over 15 million iPads and five million Macs, representing 17% of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in Q4. Overall, the total client PC market, including desktops, netbooks, notebooks, and pads grew 16% year-on-year. Excluding pads, the client PC market declined 0.4%. The floods in Thailand, that impacted hard drive assembly plants, caused mild disruption to shipments during the quarter, but the side effects are likely to be felt in the first half of 2012.

Among the other top five PC vendors, only Lenovo managed to increase its market share, by a relatively modest two points, compared to Apple’s six-point gain over the same quarter a year ago. Acer, Dell and HP – the hardest hit – all lost market share.  Now the second largest client PC vendor worldwide, HP will struggle to compete with Applefollowing the end of its Touchpad.

“Currently, HP is pursuing a Windows strategy for its pad portfolio, producing enterprise-focused products, such as the recently launched Slate 2, until the launch of Windows 8,” said Canalys Analyst Tim Coulling. “However, questions remain over Microsoft’s entry into the consumer pad space. While early demonstrations of the Window 8 operating system seem promising, Microsoft must focus its efforts on creating an intuitive user experience that is far less resource intensive.”

Lenovo continued to close the gap on HP, thanks to successful investment outside of core markets. The acquisition of Medion in Germany helped Lenovo double its shipments in Western Europe during the second half of 2011. The vendor’s decision to use Android for enterprise and consumer pads gives it a better opportunity than HP to continue gaining market share.

Dell placed fourth among the top five PC vendors, followed by Acer. Acer’s shipments continued to decline, as a result of the pad’s impact on the netbook market. It did, however, make headlines at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in January, when it revealed its S5 Ultrabook. Unsurprisingly, Acer and other vendors have been quick to announce their support for the new Ultrabook form factor, with the view of driving innovation and renewed customer interest in notebooks.

“We expect Ultrabook volumes to see limited adoption through the first half of 2012, before finally gaining momentum later in the year as price points decline and Intel launches a new line of processors and embarks on an aggressive marketing campaign,” said Canalys Research Analyst Michael Kauh. “In the short term though, vendors will experience more pressure in the netbook and notebook segments, especially with Apple’s annual iPad refresh approaching.”

Pads accounted for 22% of total PC shipments during Q4 2011. In addition to Apple’s strong performance, the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet by Barnes and Noble boosted volumes in the U.S. market, allowing both vendors to claim spots among the top five worldwide pad makers, in second and fifth place respectively.

All regions grew year-on-year with the inclusion of pads. Excluding pads, however, shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa and North America declined, due to weaker consumer demand in Western Europe and the United States, despite the traditional Q4 sales periods. Vendors and channel partners took a cautious approach to inventory levels in Q4, as many had expected a slow quarter. Notebook volumes grew slightly, at approximately 1% in these regions, but continued their impressive rise in Asia Pacific and Latin America, as more consumers embraced mobile computing.

“The consumerization of IT continues to be a significant disruptive force in the PC industry, but many of the leading vendors have failed to capitalize on the trend to date,” said Coulling. “This year will be a pivotal year for those vendors that were slow to launch pads. It is not just the product that they need to get right, business models are equally important – driving revenues from content delivery can help vendors reach lower price points in a market that is incredibly price sensitive.”

BlackBerry owners tend to be older and wealthier than other smartphone users according to a new report released this week. Data from comScore Data Mine suggests BlackBerry users are “more likely to have a household greater than $75,000 when compared to average smartphone owners.” BlackBerry owners were also more likely to have at least part of all of their monthly mobile bill paid for by their employers. We’re not surprised, taking into consideration the vast number of enterprise users that still own a BlackBerry for work. “BlackBerry users over indexed in all age segments 35-64 in November 2011, with the 55-64 age bracket showing the highest index of 120,” comScore said in its report, which found the fewest number of Blackberry users between the ages of 18 and 24.

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Most new iPhone buyers are choosing the iPhone 4S, according to a new report. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) released data on Thursday that suggests Apple’s latest iPhone model accounts for 89% of all Apple smartphones sold since the iPhone 4S was released in October. We’re a bit surprised by the figures; the new iPhone offers beefier specs and a better camera than previous generation models, but the iPhone 3GS is free on a contract with AT&T and the iPhone 4 is still available at a discount in several markets. Still, those devices accounted for just 4% and 7% of all iPhone sales, respectively, since October according to CIRP. The research firm told AllThingsD that the 16GB iPhone 4S was the most popular model. It was responsible for 45% of all iPhone 4S sales, followed by the 32GB model (34%) and the 64GB model (21%). “An amazing 19 percent of all iPhone buyers upgraded from the iPhone 4, a phone barely a year old at the time of the launch,” Mike Levin, CIRP’s co-founder, told AllThingsD. “Forty-two percent of iPhone buyers broke existing carrier contracts to get the new iPhone 4S. And 19 percent of these iPhone 4S buyers sold their old iPhone in the secondary market.”

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Tablet owners spend big bucks online according to a new report. In fact, the new study published by Adobe Digital Marketing Insights suggests that tablet owners spend 50% more per purchase than smartphone owners on retail purchases, and over 20% more than PC users. The study found that smartphone owners spent about $80 per purchase on average but tablet owners spent an average of $123. Laptop/PC users spent $102 per retail purchase on average in 2011. Tablet owners are three times more likely to make a purchase on a retail website than a smartphone user is, too. Adobe Digital Marketing Insights gathered its data from more than 150 U.S. retailers last year and more than 16.2 billion transactions made online.

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A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology by three Florida State University psychologists suggests that playing video games won’t make people smarter. The study also argues that violent games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 don’t damage gamers’ brains or compel them to commit violent acts, the Associated Press said Friday. The research is on a par with studies performed by Texas A&M International University clinical psychologist Christopher Ferguson, who has found “nothing” after researching whether or not violent video games may compel gamers to commit acts of violence. Other scientists have spoken out against the Florida State report, however, and while they didn’t discuss the effects of violence, they did suggest that playing video games actually can increase a gamer’s cognitive function. Read on for more.

Scientists from Rochester’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Science and the University of Minnesota argued that playing games actually can result in “a wide range of behavioral benefits, including enhancements in low-level vision, visual attention, speed of processing and statistical inference.” Still, more research is required before any conclusions are made about whether video games make gamers more violent or whether or not games have the ability to increase our cognitive abilities.

“Play these games because they are fun and you enjoy doing them, and let’s kind of wait for more research to suggest whether or not they are actually good for us,” Walter Boot, a Florida State University psychologist involved with the study said. ”Don’t sit down and play a game. Go out there for a walk,” he added, noting that exercise is the best proven way to boost one’s brain power.

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The monthly price we pay for 4G LTE data could drop drastically over the next five years. Currently, 4G LTE networks are blazing fast but there’s no doubt that the technology comes at a price. 4G LTE handsets sold directly by wireless carriers typically cost more than their 3G counterparts, and tiered 4G data prices are still a bit too costly for heavy data users looking to ditch their cable companies. Verizon Wireless, for example, currently charges $80 for 20GB of data per month while Time Warner Cable sells digital TV service and a 10Mbps unlimited monthly data connection for $89 per month (in New York City). But 4G LTE data prices could fall as much as 60% by 2016, or to about 20 Euro ($26) on average for monthly service according to Tariff Consultancy (TCL). Pricing is expected to decline as more wireless operators begin to offer 4G LTE services and the amount of subscribers on those networks increases. Verizon Wireless and AT&T have each deployed 4G LTE networks in the United States this past year, and Sprint will be the third major wireless carrier to deploy its LTE network next year. The TCL report also suggests that there will be more than 250 million 4G LTE subscribers by 2016.

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A new research report from Chitika Insights suggests Chrome, Firefox and Safari are eating away at Microsoft’s dominant share of the web browser market. Internet Explorer’s overall share dropped from 56% in July to 54% in August while Firefox’s market share increased from 19% to 20% and Safari’s share grew one point to 9%. Between July 2010 and July 2011, however, Microsoft’s browser share remained steady at 56%. Google’s Chrome web browser saw its share increase from 9% to 16% year-over-year at the expense of Firefox and Safari, which lost 5% and 1% of the market, respectively. Chitika said it expects Firefox’s share to increase as Mozilla continues to release frequent updates to its web browser. In addition, Internet Explorer’s share will “stabilize from its recent losses” when Microsoft releases Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10.

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InMobi Smartphone Study Reveals 41% of Mobile Users to Buy Apple iPhone 5

North American Mobile Ad Market to Benefit from Most Highly-Anticipated Smartphone Launch to Date

SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 28, 2011 — SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, today announces the combined results of its monthly InMobi Mobile Insights network ad data research and a custom iPhone-focused study, iPhone 5 and the Mobile Market.  The InMobi announcement acts as a forecast to the scope and effect of the confirmed October 4th Apple iPhone announcement in North America.  InMobi anticipates the North American mobile ad market to experience a significant increase in mobile media consumption based on the iPhone 5 consumer data findings.

Apple iPhone 5 potentially the most successful smartphone launch to date

The recent InMobi consumer smartphone survey uncovers that 41% of current mobile users in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada plan to buy an iPhone 5—potentially making it the most successful launch from the consumer electronics giant to date.  The study further finds that over 50% of those users will make the purchase within the first six months of the iPhone 5 launch, which could take Apple significantly ahead of its June 2011 market position, and increase its mobile platform market share from 27% in June (comScore Inc., August 2011) to 41%.

However, if Apple only unveils a product update—akin to the 3GS version of the iPhone that Apple released in 2009—interest in the new smartphone will be significantly lower, with fewer than 15% of consumers likely to actively pursue the new handset.

The study finds that consumers are most hopeful for improved battery life; increased processing speed; higher-quality screen resolution; and stronger phone service in the rumored Apple smartphone.

Customer retention and new users

The study uncovered that over half of BlackBerry users (52%) are planning to switch to the new Apple iPhone 5, followed by 51% of current iPhone users and over one in four (27%) Android owners.  Even if the announcement only unveils an iPhone 4S, 28% of current BlackBerry smartphone owners plan to switch to Apple, more than double the amount of current iPhone and Android owners.

Percentage of mobile consumers planning to switch to new iPhone:
Current Phone	% Planning to Switch to iPhone 5	% Planning to Switch to iPhone “4S”
iPhone	51	11
Android	27	11
BlackBerry	52	28

InMobi experiences continued network growth in North America

InMobi’s North America Market Overview, which shows nearly 24 billion mobile ad impressions on the InMobi network over the past quarter, denotes that Apple mobile ad impressions are on the rise in iPod Touch devices and that as a manufacturer, Apple has the majority of the market share, at 29%.  Data from the report also indicates a 33% growth in mobile ad impressions over the past three months, and a 39% growth in smart phone impressions in the North America mobile market.  An infographic outlining the full findings of InMobi’s most recent research is available at: http://www.inmobi.com/research/.

Commenting on InMobi’s latest findings, James Lamberti, VP Global Research & Marketing at InMobi, said: “The combination of Apple’s increasing market share in mobile advertising and general consumer interest in their latest technology is another boon for the mobile advertising industry.  Apple is currently the clear leader in terms of compelling user experience and customer loyalty, and we feel that their quality and pace of innovation when it comes to mobile devices will continue to improve the content and advertising experience for consumers for iPhone 5 and beyond.”

The advent of online shopping changed the retail industry forever, but many consumers are still not willing to shop for consumer electronics online despite potential cost savings. New data from market research firm The NPD Group shows that while nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers use the Internet to research consumer electronics purchases, only about half go on to purchase electronics online. ”It’s not surprising to see that so many consumers won’t buy TVs, smartphones, and other popular CE products online, despite using the Internet to perform basic product research,” said NPD analyst Stephen Baker in a statement. “Computers and other IT products have a much longer history online with a wider variety of outlets, including direct sales from manufacturers, for consumers to choose from.” The firm found that computers and computer software where the most popular online purchases for consumers, with 34% of NPD’s 1,326-person study saying they would make such purchases online. Televisions were the least likely online electronics purchases, with only 19% of respondents saying they would buy a TV online. The NPD Group’s full press release follows below.

The NPD Group: Consumers Still Reluctant to Purchase Traditional Consumer Electronics Online

According to NPD’s new “E-commerce and Consumer Electronics: Online Shopping & Purchasing” report, 63 percent of consumers consult the web first when researching electronics but only half of all consumers end up making the purchase online

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., September 15, 2011 — According to a new report from The NPD Group, a leading market research company, even as the incidence of Web-shopping increases, many U.S. consumers remain reluctant to purchase certain consumer electronics (CE) products online, even after using the Web to find out more about them. NPD’s “E-commerce and Consumer Electronics: Online Shopping & Purchasing” report reveals that televisions are the fourth most-likely item that consumers research online prior to purchasing (56 percent); however, it’s the least likely electronics product that consumers would actually purchase online (19 percent). Smartphones also showed a much higher level of research versus buying online: while 52 percent of consumers would seek out information about smartphones on the Web, just 23 percent could imagine themselves going online to purchase one. In contrast more people (66 percent) do both their research (66 percent) and expect to make an actual purchase (34 percent) online for PCs then for any other CE device.

“It’s not surprising to see that so many consumers won’t buy TVs, smartphones, and other popular CE products online, despite using the Internet to perform basic product research,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD. “Computers and other IT products have a much longer history online with a wider variety of outlets, including direct sales from manufacturers, for consumers to choose from.”

Top consumer electronics products consumers were “extremely” or “very likely” to purchase online, included the following:

• Computer software | 34%
• Computer | 34%
• eReader | 32%
• Digital Camera | 30%
• Computer accessories/peripherals | 30%
• Tablet computer | 29%
• Printer | 24%
• Smartphone/mobile phone | 23%
• Camcorder | 21%
• Blu-ray player | 21%
• Home audio | 20%
• Television | 19%

“Part of consumers’ unwillingness to purchase certain electronics online might be due to a lack of awareness, or as a result of the slow pace taken by many traditional CE companies establishing a direct-to-consumer buying presence on the Web, or it could be something inherent in the products themselves, such as price or complexity,” Baker said. “Whatever the cause, the result is a badly skewed online sales mix that relies heavily on a narrow range of products, and one that doesn’t adequately address some of the more exciting growth opportunities.”

According to Baker, “retailers continue to have an edge with consumers, when they can leverage their physical storefronts with a strong online presence.” In fact more than three quarters (76 percent) of all consumers say they have used a retailer’s website to research a potential purchase, compared to just 62 percent for manufacturer-direct shoppers and 65 percent for online-only shoppers. Reinforcing consumers comfort with a multi-channel approach to gathering information, NPD’s data shows that using retailers’ stores and websites are among the top five activities consumers do first, when they begin to consider purchasing consumer electronics.

Information in NPD’s “E-commerce and Consumer Electronics: Online Shopping & Purchasing” report is based on online surveys fielded in June 2011 to a representative sample of 1,326 panelists from NPD’s online panel. Results were balanced to represent the U.S. adult population.

Netflix could shed as many as 2.5 million paying customers as a result of its recent move to significantly increase the monthly cost of its DVDs-by-mail rental service. Netflix announced earlier this month that it would be adjusting its monthly rate plans. Whereas subscribers had been able to stream unlimited digital content and receive DVD rentals by mail for as little as $9.99 per month, Netflix’s new combination plans start at $15.98 per month, a 60% increase. Research firm TDG polled 500 Netflix customers who subscribed to DVD and streaming combination plans at the time Netflix announced the price hike. Based on the results of that survey, TDG estimates that Netflix stands to lose between 12% and 15% of combo plan subscribers within the next six months due to the new plan pricing. That would translate to between 2 million and 2.5 million subscribers — or a minimum of nearly $240 million annually. Many subscribers who might stay around also say they intend to switch off of their current combo plans; 34% told TDG they will switch to a streaming-only plan and 44% said they will opt for a DVD-only plan. Netflix warned investors during its earnings call that the rate plan changes could have a negative impact on its business in the near term.

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As part of its new Teardown Research Service, market research firm ABI Research has torn Samsung’s Galaxy S II apart in order to analyze and test the components Samsung used to build its latest flagship device. “If you are looking to keep up with the latest technology in 2011, the Galaxy S II is a good place to start,” ABI Research’s report states, listing the device’s major changes compared to the original Galaxy S as including the Exynos dual-core processor, a new single-packaged multi-band multi-mode radio from RFMD, a new CMOS-based antenna switch and a lower-power XMM6260 cellular chipset from Infineon. “Samsung started from scratch with this phone: almost every component is new,” ABI Research vice president of engineering James Mielke said in a statement. ”Its application processor is the most powerful on the market at present. It is the first to use the Samsung Exynos 4210 dual-core application processor (a competitor to NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2). The name Exynos combines Greek words for ‘smart’ and ‘green,’ indicating Samsung’s energy-efficiency goals for the design.” Mielke concludes, ““Samsung took many risks by combining all these new technologies into one phone. But ABI Research believes those risks will pay off; the Galaxy S II sets a new benchmark for almost every category on which a smartphone is measured.”

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According to a new report from research firm IDC, annual mobile app downloads are expected to jump from just 10.7 billion in 2010 to 182.7 billion in 2015. The company noted that that developers should keep a close eye on in-app purchases as the primary focus for monetizing applications – a far different approach than the standard method of relying on the initial app purchase. “This shift is most evident in the free app category, where in-app purchases allow users to buy a more functional version of the app or to turn on additional features,” the report said. “In this instance, the mobile apps space is largely emulating the success of mobile games that have long incorporated in-game purchases of additional levels, features, and functionalities as a key revenue source.” IDC argued that ad-supported applications and those that offer in-app purchase options must continue to keep users attracted over time. “The user sustainability trifecta of social networking, location, and the cloud are now increasingly being supported by the business model financial trifecta of application store purchases, in-app purchasing, and in-app advertising,” said Scott Ellison, vice president of mobile and connected consumer platforms at IDC.  Read on for the full release.

IDC Forecasts Nearly 183 Billion Annual Mobile App Downloads by 2015: Monetization Challenges Driving Business Model Evolution

28 Jun 2011

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., June 28, 2011 – Mobile app downloads are forecast to soar from 10.7 billion in 2010 to 182.7 billion in 2015, according to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC). While this number is impressive, the even bigger story behind the numbers is an impending shift away from the current, near-total reliance upon initial app download purchases as the primary focus of app monetization to a rapidly growing focus on in-app purchasing to fund business models.

This shift is most evident in the free app category, where in-app purchases allow users to buy a more functional version of the app or to turn on additional features. In this instance, the mobile apps space is largely emulating the success of mobile games that have long incorporated in-game purchases of additional levels, features, and functionalities as a key revenue source. This shift became very evident in January with the Appcelerator/IDC 1Q11 Mobile App Developer Survey Report, in which developers reported dramatically increased plans to incorporate in-app purchasing, mobile advertising, and mobile commerce in their apps.

“App developers are not only focusing on ways to ‘appify’ just about every interaction you can think of in your physical and digital worlds, they are now focusing on longer term sustainability issues,” noted Scott Ellison, vice president, Mobile and Connected Consumer Platforms. “The user sustainability trifecta of social networking, location, and the cloud are now increasingly being supported by the business model financial trifecta of application store purchases, in-app purchasing, and in-app advertising.”

Business models that seek to include in-app purchasing and in-app advertising must, by definition, further engage users, both within the app itself and over time. Together these dynamics are driving significant shifts in how apps are conceptualized, the integration of additional services and features like social networking and location to more deeply engage users, and how apps are actually developed in terms of incorporating in-app purchasing.

The IDC study, Worldwide and U.S. Mobile Applications, Storefronts, Developer, and In-App Advertising 2011-2015 Forecast: Emergence of Postdownload Business Models (IDC #228221), provides IDC’s current and best estimates for the rapidly evolving mobile applications market. The report includes a forecast of annual downloads and revenues for mobile applications, OS-affiliated storefronts, and independent distributors both worldwide and in the United States. Mobile application developer revenue projections are further divided into app unit sales, in-app purchasing, and in-app advertising. IDC’s outlook on this market is informed by continuous conversations with a wide variety of players in the mobile app marketplace.. Other sources of information include company financial and product announcements, and the Appcelerator/IDC Mobile Developer Report, a quarterly survey of Appcelerator’s 70,000+ mobile app developer base.

On Wednesday, researchers from O’Reilly claimed to discover a tracking feature in iPhones and 3G iPads that reportedly sent location data back to Apple. Another researcher, this time from Katana Forensics, says otherwise. “Apple is not harvesting this data from your device,” said Kata Forensics lead engineer Alex Levinson. “This is data on the device that you as the customer purchased and unless [O'Reilly] can show concrete evidence supporting this claim – network traffic analysis of connections to Apple servers – I rebut this claim in full. Through my research in this field and all traffic analysis I have performed, not once have I seen this data traverse a network.” Levinson argues that the “hidden tracking file” is neither new nor a secret. He wrote about it in a book by Sean Morrissey titled iOS Forensic Analysis, which was published on December 5th, 2010, and says that the collected data is simply used by native iOS apps like Maps and Camera. If you’re still worried Apple is collecting the info – that you likely agreed to provide anyway — Levinson even cites a California state law that says: “No person or entity in this state shall use an electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of a person.” Hit the jump for more from Alex Levinson.

[Via The Loop]

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