With Apple’s recently publicised attack on Flurry for its mobile analytics data policy, the question about who ultimately owns the data recorded remains open. It has long been known that mobile analytics firms, such as Flurry and Google assume ownership of the data and user information collected from websites and mobile apps. For brands and developers this is a real concern, and one which they can’t do much about.
Developers are already finding the whole mobile app market challenging – what with platform fragmentation, distribution issues and mobile marketing campaigns continuing to cost a premium. Developers depend on good analytics to provide insight about how to deliver the best apps, websites and marketing campaigns. So having the analytics company retain the rights to all that valuable information about the developers hard earned customers is just another thing to worry about. Unfortunately, many analytics companies promise detailed, accurate reports for free, but as we know, nothing is free in this world. The analytics companies are actually focused on harvesting data they can sell to make revenue in other ways.
Mobile analytics firm Bango strongly believes that information ownership should clearly remain in the hands of the brands and developers that collect it. Whether the data collected shows user activity within apps or websites, details the success of advertising or any other important information that can improve the user experience, marketing spend or company efficiency. With Bango Analytics the developer owns the data and is free to use it in any way they wish. The data is not shared with any third party or used as part of an advertising platform – it’s simple, accurate measurement for the developer.
Flurry has recently announced the modification of its data collection policy, following Steve Jobs’ outburst, stating that they now comply with iPhone OS terms and conditions – but importantly the data ownership still remains theirs.
So my message to developers is be cautious when choosing an analytics solution, read the small print and more importantly take data ownership into your own hands and protect your valuable customers.
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