Updated 10:49 am ET, Friday, May 11
Carrier IQ, the beleaguered California software company that was accused of logging smartphone users’ keystrokes without their knowledge or permission in late 2011, is planning to rehabilitate its image with new applications that will allow consumers to see exactly what data the company is accessing, and what it is storing and transmitting to users.
Carrier IQ, which vehemently denied all keylogging accusations, first revealed its plans to give customers a detailed look at what information the software was collecting in February, announcing that it would be creating an application programming interface, or API — a standard for developing applications around software programs.
In the case of Carrier IQ, its software analyzes phone usage data — such as recording when dropped calls occur — and transmits this information to its customers, which include some of the nation’s largest wireless carrier companies — AT&T, T-Mobile and formerly Sprint.
Carrier IQ said at the time it announced its API in February that it hoped to have it rolled out by the second quarter of 2012, which would be June. Now representatives from the company have told TPM it is on track to do so.
“We will ship at the end of this quarter, by the end of June,” said Carrier IQ’s vice president of marketing, Andrew Coward, in a telephone interview with TPM.
Mira Woods, a marketing representative with Carrier IQ, further told TPM that it had engaged with its customers to let them know about the new API and to encourage them to develop their own, phone-specific “dashboards” to allow customers to see what information the software is tracking.
“There have been ongoing conversations already,” Woods told TPM by phone. “From our end it [the API] will have the same functionality for all operators.”
However, when asked about how they would use Carrier IQ to better keep users informed about what information of theirs was being recorded, America’s large mobile wireless companies shrugged.
An AT&T spokesperson provided TPM with the following statement: “”We haven’t seen the software so we’re unable to comment on it.”
Sprint, which in December said it had disabled Carrier IQ due to customer concerns over the software, told TPM: “Carrier IQ Client has been taken off of Sprint devices. We are considering our diagnostic needs, but have not made any decisions yet on how to meet them.”
That’s somewhat at odds with what Carrier IQ told TPM.
“We haven’t lost Sprint as a customer,” Coward told TPM. “They have been deactivating their smartphones, but we are continuing discussions with them.”
Correction: This article originally incorrectly quoted AT&T’s spokesperson. We’ve since updated the quote in copy and regret the error.
