We don't track, says Steve Jobs as details emerge of Apple patent to create searchable map based on iPhone owners' locations

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• But Apple boss reportedly said Google Android phones DO track users
  

Steve Jobs has made his first comments on the iPhone tracking row - as damning new details emerged about how Apple plans to monitor its users.In an email to an iPhone owner who complained to Apple, Mr Jobs denied that the company put its customers under surveillance.But at the same time a patent filed by the firm came to light which gives a chilling insight into its plans to use the data mined from tracking its users.

Apple boss Steve Jobs (left) has dismissed criticism that the iPhone tracks user locations as damning new details today emerged about how Apple plans to monitor its usersThe documents show that Apple wants to create a searchable map of iPhone owners locations and link it up to everything from pictures you take to your own financial transactions.The data will also be transmitted to remote party servers, apparently without the consent of the user.The details will cause alarm among privacy campaigners as they are exactly the kind of behaviour they feared Apple would embark upon.

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Apple has not yet made any official comment on the row, which was started when two British researchers identified the secret file which tracks where iPhone and iPad users go.But in an email to an iPhone owner, Mr Jobs gave a terse response when asked about it.According to MacRumours, th! e email from the customer read: Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone?
'It's kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don't track me.

Tracking row: A graphic of iPhone location data from Washington D.C. to New York City made after claims in the Wall Street Journal last week that the secret file in the iPhone tracks users even when the 'location services' tool is switched off

Secret surveillance: The map shows the locations and phone use of a journey taken by researchers who discovered the capability on the deviceMr Jobs is said to have replied: We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false.'Asked about Android phones tracking users, he supposedly wrote: Oh yes they do.

Both Mr Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt (pictured) have previously admitted they use location data for Wi-Fi databasesMr Jobs has occasionally responded to customer emails himself, but his attempt to defuse the row was undermined by the patent filed by one of his senior engineering managers.Ronald Huang filed application 12/553,554 in the U.S. last month which details how Apple wants to crate a Location History map which will allow it to track users movements on a searchable programme.According to Gawker.com it spells out how the database could be correlated or related to other personal information, including but not limited to: Data associated with a picture taking event, data associated with a financial transaction, sensor output data, data associated with a communication event (e.g. ! receipt of a phone call or instant message), data associated with a network event.... etc.The patent makes clear that data will be sent to remote servers or a remote reference database but with no mention of asking the user for permission.There are also details about data compression suggesting that Apple has been planning this move for some time and is serious about it.Apple has come under sustained fire since the row emerged and senators in the U.S. have written to it demanding an explanation.The latest developments follow claims in the Wall St Journal that the secret file in the iPhone tracks users even when the location services tool is switched off.Location data is some of the most valuable information a mobile phone can provide, since it can tell advertisers not only where someone's been, but also where they might be going - and what they might be inclined to buy when they get there.