Re: This is nothing unusual
""" Of course apple won't track the actual payment but it will track the activity either side to analyse shopping habits and that data is valuable, again they have been doing that for years as does everyone else.
That is in direct contradiction to what Apple stated at their keynote event:
We are not in the business of collecting your data. And so when you go to a physical location and use Apple Pay, Apple doesn't know what you bought, where you bought it, or how much you paid for it. The transaction is between you, the merchant and your bank.
"""
I do not see any contradiction of the first paragraph by the second. Apple's quote deals with a "you" as a specific individual. The quote from the Mr. Belt is talking about aggregated data. These two forms of data are different from each other, and Apple's statement is silent regarding whether they are dealing with aggregated data.
Apple is a publicly traded company. It has a >>fiduciary duty<< to its shareholders to maximize their return on investment. Companies that fail to obey this requirement find themselves facing shareholder lawsuits. No one can convince me that the aggregated data gathered from Apple consumers is without value. If Apple does not realize a return on that value, it risks losing a lawsuit over its fiduciary responsibility. As good capitalists, and responsible managers, they are monetizing this information somehow.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
