Apple: Don't Bother with Route Guidance, Fleet Management

Apple: Don't Bother with Route Guidance, Fleet Management
http://lbs.gpsworld.com/gpslbs/content/printContentPopup.jsp?id=523198

Jun 11, 2008
GPS World

In the aftermath of Tuesday's announcement of the Apple iPhone, a number of
software developers and others have noted that the iPhone software development
kit (SDK) agreement says apps may not be designed for real-time route guidance.
It also says fleet management applications are a no-no.

Apple has said it is aiming for more enterprise and business customers with the
iPhone 3G, yet the agreement seems to preclude the development of any fleet
management and tracking software for the iPhone. The agreement associated with
the SDK, which can be downloaded from Apple's developer website by registered
users, specifically states this in the section covering location-based services
(LBS). "Applications may not be designed or marketed for real-time route
guidance; automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other
mechanical devices; dispatch or fleet management; or emergency or life-saving
purposes," it says.

Many technology bloggers and their readers have concluded this portion of the
SDK precludes the use of third-party software for turn-by-turn voice directions
and navigation, such as that provided by TomTom or Garmin. The same argument
could ostensibly be made for the fleet management software.

On the other hand, the converse may be true and this agreement obliquely
indicates that Apple already has agreements with specific third-party software
vendors in place for these applications. Given that the chief technical
criticism of the first version of the iPhone was both its lack of 3G cellular
network capability and GPS-based navigation and LBS, this latter scenario seems
more likely.

In any event, the SDK agreement would further seem to clearly indicate that
Apple has its LBS eye turned to social networking. Much of the LBS section of
the document involves user privacy and data collection. For example, among its
many stipulations is the following: "Applications that offer location-based
services or functionality must notify and obtain consent from an individual when
his or her location data is being collected, transmitted or otherwise used by
the application."

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Is this called the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" SDK Agreement?