The fine, though small, marks the first time Apple has been punished by a regulator over the controversial location data collection which has sparked criticism in the United States and elsewhere.

The revelation in April that Apple’s iPhones collected location data and stored it for up to a year — even when location software was supposedly turned off — has prompted renewed scrutiny of the nexus between location and privacy.

Apple has since issued a patch to fix the problem.

Some 27,800 South Korean iPhone and iPad users are planning to launch a class action suit against Apple over the matter, while two separate U.S. groups have sued Apple, alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) ordered corrective measures on the South Korean operations of Apple and Google Inc, saying it has found loopholes in systems supposed to protect location information. It ordered the technology giants to encrypt location data stored in smartphones.



Apple Korea could have had its business suspended or been fined 3 percent of its location information revenue for failing to encrypt location data, or been fined up to 10 million won for collecting data without permission, the KCC said.

“Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so,” said Steve Park, a spokesman for Apple Korea.

Google Inc, a fierce competitor of Apple in mobile computing, has also faced criticism over reports that Android-based phones track the locations of users.

Google said that location-sharing on its Android mobile platform was strictly opt-in.