Apple tells devs that location-based advertising is a no-no

In a recent post to its iPhone Developers news site, Apple warned developers not to use location data to serve location-specific ads in their apps. The move comes shortly after Apple acquired its own mobile advertising firm, Quattro Wireless.

Apple wants developers to use CoreLocation, the API that allows developers to find your location based on GPS coordinates and other data, to give users "beneficial information." This concept is at work when Yelp shows you nearby restaurants, or when RunKeeper tracks your jogging progress on a map.

However, the company warns, "[i]f your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store."

Apple doesn't appear to be opposed to location-based targeted advertising in principle. It has filed patents for location-based targeted advertising, especially in relation to offering currently playing songs or videos at a particular location for purchase via iTunes.

It may be that Apple merely wants to avoid giving out iPhone user's location data to third parties, especially without permission, with no guarantee about how the data is used. But it also stands to reason that Apple may be planning its own location-based advertising service based on its recent acquisition of Quattro Wireless. It would be unfair of Apple to keep that data all to itself, however. The company did not respond to our request for comment this morning.