With a forthcoming update to Apple’s operating system iOS 14, Apple is set to provide users with more freedom over the their data. Apple will highlight the ways apps track activity across three different categories: Data used to track you, Data linked to you and Data not linked to you. Facebook is the one company heavily dependent upon data tracking.
Facebook has indicated that it is not concerned about amassing data for its own purposes. The company has instead claimed that Apple was is feigning its privacy concerns, and Apple in actually concerned with hiding its own privacy failings. Facebook has also inferred that Apple is hurting small businesses, according to the New York Times.
The company Zenreach disagrees with Facebook’s stance and cites how important consumer privacy is.
The CEO John Kelly of Zenreach tells Digital Journal: “The changes that Apple has rolled out will have a significant impact upon location-based advertising. The consumer’s ability to elect to opt out of this type of targeting together with the fact that Global Positioning Systems (GPS) come with certain challenges means that such first-generation solutions will face new limitations.”
Not only are these changes an shift in the right direction, a company can still develop an effective marketing strategy without compromising data privacy.
As Kelly explains: “Zenreach rely exclusively on user’s consent to our service, and we agree with Apple’s position on this matter. Users should decide to give up their data in exchange for services, and we support the decision to put the power back into the hands of users.”
He adds that: “We have no interest in tracking users during their daily routines; we have no interest in understanding user behavior outside of commercial interactions. Our solution looks at users when they engage with one of our clients, such as dining at a restaurant or shopping in a retail location. Away from those locations, we only wish people a safe trip home.”
In terms of what businesses should be considering, Kelly suggests: “Our solution avoids the pitfalls of determining location based on users’ GPS-determined location. GPS lacks the precision required in high-density areas and multi-floor buildings to. We leverage the local Wi-Fi router as the sensor for determining whether a shopper is in a shop or if they are elsewhere.”
