While you may have trouble finding your cell phone, your cell phone provider may know where you are at all times. This was the big news last week, when it was revealed that the iPhone and Android smartphones constantly track your location. The info is shared respectively with phone creators Apple and Google. In most cases it appears this is done without the phone owner’s consent.
This is a sneaky business practice that rightfully brings a lot of negative PR to the companies. Had officials and Apple and Google spent a few minutes thinking about human nature, sales, and unexpected change, they might have realized that they probably could have gotten the same info by being transparent with customers.
Think back to when supermarkets started to collect information about your purchases. This was done through a store card that contained a bar code. The bar code was connected to you demographic information. Voila, the supermarket now knows whether you buy oatmeal or shredded wheat.
What did it take for people to give this information to Big Brother? Anyone who used the card would receive discounts that weren’t available to other shoppers. Some stores provided instant gratification by giving you a free 2 liter bottle of soda when you signed up for the card.
For most, this was seen as a good trade. You got something for giving up something, even if, in hindsight, the supermarket might have been getting the better deal.
While I don’t have a Android or an iPhone, I can see how news of being tracked (we track things like animals) is unnerving. (Full disclosure: I am willing to personally test out my feeling of being tracked should Google or Apple decide to give me a free smart phone). Suddenly your ordinary movements, dull as they might be, seem worth protecting.
What if both companies had, from the start, announced that a special feature of their phones should be thought of as a constant companion? They could have told you that the some of the benefits are: Getting special offers from nearby merchants, gathering information that could improve traffic flow, and finding a misplaced cell phone.
In the customer’s mind, that could have been all it took for them to have no fear about the new technology. I bet even more would have been wooed by a free t-shirt at the time of purchase.
For consumers, secrets rarely come with benefits. Finding out news of hidden tracking software makes people nervous. As I’ve talked about in the past, most customers don’t like unexpected change. But they’ll accept change when they understand the benefits of it.
