Apple Inc. is planning to release a new way for mobile app developers to track who
uses their software, according to people briefed on Apple's plans, the
company's latest attempt to balance developers' appetite for targeting
data with consumers' unease over how it is used.
The new tool, which could be detailed in the coming weeks, aims to better protect user privacy than existing approaches, these people said.
It comes after Apple last summer rattled the mobile industry by saying it would stop allowing app makers to use a unique identifier embedded in iPhones and iPads to track users across different apps. So far, the company hasn't aggressively enforced that policy.
Many mobile companies rely on what is called the Unique Device Identifier, or UDID, to serve ads and gather data—like location and preferences—as people move between apps. But some privacy advocates argued that the string of numbers, which are anonymous, could be coupled with enough data to identify individuals.
How Apple's new technology works and what it will allow developers to track remains unclear. One of the people briefed said that the new anonymous identifier is likely to rely on a sequence of numbers that isn't tied to a specific device.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Since saying it would phase out UDIDs, the Cupertino, Calif. company—gatekeeper to almost 600,000 mobile apps—has been mum about how it plans to do so.
Meanwhile, developers and mobile ad networks have been evaluating various workarounds, worried about losing millions of dollars in revenue if they can't target users with mobile ads. Companies also say they need a way to recognize users in order to customize content and preferences. None of the new workarounds, which include methods like tracking based on an ID in a phone's wireless networking hardware, have taken off.
"Everyone is waiting for Apple to do something," says Lars Albright, the chief executive of mobile-marketing company SessionM and a former executive in Apple's iAd division. "There are a lot of different viewpoints in the industry. We don't need more confusion. We need less."
When Apple plans to discuss the new tracker remains unclear. But developers could receive some clues next week at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, when they are expected to receive an early version of Apple's next mobile operating system.
Developers are also expecting Apple to unveil new models of its MacBook portable computers at the event, along with software enhancements such as Apple's own mobile mapping service and updates to its online storage and syncing service iCloud
The new tool, which could be detailed in the coming weeks, aims to better protect user privacy than existing approaches, these people said.
It comes after Apple last summer rattled the mobile industry by saying it would stop allowing app makers to use a unique identifier embedded in iPhones and iPads to track users across different apps. So far, the company hasn't aggressively enforced that policy.
Many mobile companies rely on what is called the Unique Device Identifier, or UDID, to serve ads and gather data—like location and preferences—as people move between apps. But some privacy advocates argued that the string of numbers, which are anonymous, could be coupled with enough data to identify individuals.
How Apple's new technology works and what it will allow developers to track remains unclear. One of the people briefed said that the new anonymous identifier is likely to rely on a sequence of numbers that isn't tied to a specific device.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Since saying it would phase out UDIDs, the Cupertino, Calif. company—gatekeeper to almost 600,000 mobile apps—has been mum about how it plans to do so.
Meanwhile, developers and mobile ad networks have been evaluating various workarounds, worried about losing millions of dollars in revenue if they can't target users with mobile ads. Companies also say they need a way to recognize users in order to customize content and preferences. None of the new workarounds, which include methods like tracking based on an ID in a phone's wireless networking hardware, have taken off.
"Everyone is waiting for Apple to do something," says Lars Albright, the chief executive of mobile-marketing company SessionM and a former executive in Apple's iAd division. "There are a lot of different viewpoints in the industry. We don't need more confusion. We need less."
When Apple plans to discuss the new tracker remains unclear. But developers could receive some clues next week at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, when they are expected to receive an early version of Apple's next mobile operating system.
Developers are also expecting Apple to unveil new models of its MacBook portable computers at the event, along with software enhancements such as Apple's own mobile mapping service and updates to its online storage and syncing service iCloud
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