Do iPhone customers want to receive GPS-based marketing messages?

Tuesday, February 9th 2010

iPhone app developers have been told by Apple that they can use GPS technology to insert location-based advertising in their apps, but such marketing has to be classed as "beneficial".

Users of the Apple iPhone could find that they receive targeted marketing messages depending on their location.

Apple announced that it will allow iPhone app developers to use the GPS technology found in the smartphone to insert location-based advertising in their apps.

This may mean that if an iPhone customer was walking past a restaurant then they could receive vouchers and discount coupons through their handset for that particular establishment.

But Apple has stated that only "beneficial information" can be sent in this way. The mobile phone manufacturer told developers that if their app uses location-based information to deliver targeted adverts depending on a user's location, "your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store".

Customers may be torn between whether they like the idea of being targeted in this way or whether being sent marketing messages which know their location impedes upon their privacy.

And with Apple recently acquiring mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless, some industry analysts have asked if the iPhone maker will judge what is classed as "beneficial information" based on how it is perceived as a competitor to its new acquisition.

Patricio Robles, technology reporter at Econsultancy, wrote: "Apple isn't simply the manufacturer of the iPhone. It has built a lucrative business through the App Store and through the App Store it controls much of the iPhone experience. The ability to control how advertising fits into that experience is very valuable to Apple."