iPhone users played around with their Apple-branded devices and stumbled upon a very interesting fact: at least two of the phone's applications send information back to an Apple website.
At present time both Stocks.app and Weather.app have been reported to feature the same hidden string and act in the same manner. Chances are that other apps may be in the same league.
At first it might seem that this is well covered in Apple's Terms of Service; users have been notified that personal information (such as name, mailing address, phone number, email address, contact preferences, credit card information and information about the owned Apple products you own - serial numbers, date of purchase - ) might be transmitted when they interact with Apple.
Then again, there are two questions that come to mind: why does Apple need to know my location (or, better said, my possible traveling plans, because the location might be better established by the telecom company) or my stock information? Advertising, by any chance?
The discovery first came up on Hackintosh, with users reporting that the apps sent back to Apple information including IMEI number, IP address, and preference information. A solution was quick to emerge, allowing tech-savvy users to silence the apps.
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