Yesterday afternoon I was grocery shopping with my six year old daughter. The Trader Joe’s where we were shopping is very close to her favorite “Tacqueria” and she requested that I get her a burrito. Rather than wait in line I called in the order in advance.
I looked up the place in the maps app on the iPhone. Then I pressed the phone number and something very strange happened. Here’s the sequence in screenshots:
As you can see from the image on the right, it appears that I’m calling Apple corporate headquarters. I’ve never seen this screen before. I thought there was some sort of malfunction so I hung up and did it again. The same thing happened.
The second time I called I waited to see who would answer. The business did answer the phone; I was connected correctly. I placed the order.
I looked at my call log and it appeared that I called Apple:
Any theories about what might have happened or what might be going on?
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Great catch Greg. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting to see what this peek behind the curtain will reveal about Apple’s plans in the local space.
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Another facet of Apple’s diversification strategery… wait until the release of iBurrito 2.0!
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Conspiracy theory time:
I noticed the phone number starts with a +.
So, my theory is that Apple has chosen to own the “+” symbol/key.
Goodbye Google +, in one simple “gesture”.
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I’ve seen this before as well. They are clearing using some metered call tracking lines to measure the call volume/analytics. The display number within the map feature still visually remains as the business, but the actual dialed number is an Apple corp # and bounces through their system over to the business. What they have yet to fix, is how the ‘actual dialed’ number is displaying on the screen. Will be interesting to see what they do in/with this local ad serving space- nothing yet, but be confident they are listening and analyzing the voice and analytical data. I’m also sure they will be measuring these stats up against their newly integrated maps set to release soon.
August 2nd, 2012 at 2:46 pm
I’d say with 99% certainty that they’re using a form of call tracking. Their phone system automatically logs the call before forwarding it on to the destination phone number.
Very interesting catch!
Now, the real question: why are they doing it? How do they intend to use the data? If they’re routing the calls it could even go further – instead of mere logging and redirection, they could remain in the connection, logging how long the call is, and monitoring for sentiment.
August 2nd, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Yes, my thought was some sort of Apple call-tracking experiment. Thanks for the theories. I’m sure there will be more revealed in the run up to the general release of iOS 6. I wonder what the developers running it already are seeing.
August 2nd, 2012 at 5:51 pm
I bet Google would be pretty upset if they found out that Apple is secretly tracking calls from their app. I wonder if they are doing this in any other apps…
August 3rd, 2012 at 2:49 pm
It’s actually not “their app.” Apple controls the mapping app on the iPhone and really always has. Google provides the data and perhaps some of the functionality.
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Wow, that’s really sneaky. Is that even legal?
Regardless of whether it’s in Apple’s legalese…how can that not be against the law?
Tracking calls to certain kinds of businesses would absolutely violate federal laws.
Not necessarily taco stands, though. But wow.
August 3rd, 2012 at 7:01 pm
I initially dismissed Tom’s concern that this might be illegal, but I just realized this could quite possibly violate various Federal and States’ wiretapping laws, even if Apple’s terms and conditions were to clearly state they are allowed to do this.
They’ve put themselves squarely in the middle of a phone call between an individual and the person at the other end — I’d think that any sort of recording of the call transaction might invoke a number of different protection laws.
What do you think, Greg?
August 4th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
I have not been able to duplicate this with other phone numbers I’ve tried. So I’m not sure what’s going on.