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- Feb 12, 2007
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Apple Pays First iPhone Compensation
Apple has made the first compensation payment to a user of its popular iPhone over the collection of location data without consent.
Apple Korea agreed to pay 1 million won (663) in compensation to Kim Hyung-suk, a lawyer, following a court order in May, officials at Changwon District Court confirmed today.
Mr Kim's law firm, Mirae Law, said Apple made payment last month. Apple could not be immediately reached for comment in Seoul.
Mirae Law said it was now preparing a class action lawsuit against Apple for the unauthorised data collection. A website for class action sign-up has been set up but crashed due to heavy traffic.
Apple released a software update in May to fix a problem that enabled its mobile devices to collect and store customers' location data. The revelation that Apple's iPhone collected data and stored it for up to a year has prompted renewed scrutiny of the nexus between location and privacy.
US politicians have accused the technology industry of exploiting location data for marketing purposes - a potentially multibillion-dollar industry - without getting proper consent from phone users.
Google's Seoul office was raided in May on suspicion its mobile advertising unit AdMob had illegally collected location data without consent, in the latest setback to the Internet search firm's Korean operations.
Executives of both Apple and Google have said they did not abuse the information.
Any class action may put further pressure on Apple in the home market of its key rival Samsung Electronics.
Samsung's flagship Galaxy S smartphone has emerged as a major competitor to the iPhone.
The iPhone is sold by top mobile carrier SK Telecom and second-ranked KT Corp in South Korea. KT, the major seller of the iPhone, said its iPhone subscribers reach more than 2.7 million, while SK Telecom declined to provide any details.
Apple sold a record 18.65 million units of its blockbuster iPhone globally in the March quarter.
Reuters
