With my iPhone, I've noticed that the device itself will notice things (though perhaps not as much as Google), without necessarily reporting this information back to Apple.
For instance, it does the content recognition and offers to create calendar events for phrases like "tomorrow", "September 18th", and so forth out of my email. Also, it knows where I live and where I work and tells me how long it'll take to drive back and forth (which isn't helpful to me because I walk), but it also notices when I'm spending the night with my girlfriend because it starts telling me how long it'll take to go to her place.
Perhaps for the level of sophistication Google offers, they need to keep your entire life stored in Google's data centers. But the kinds of features you point out, by and large, are more than possible without it. Your iPhone would know when you have a flight booked, because your boarding pass would be right there in Passbook. It would know when and where you land, because it has GPS. Google might have more clever technology for aggregating and displaying that information, but it doesn't inherently require sending all that data to Google's servers, and the fact that they do so is telling.
And now apple has promised not to just give all that information, and access to your phone, to people claiming to be cops without a warrant anymore.
This was such a good read until that last word. Including that last word it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and full of confidence in Apple's protection of my data.
A part of me wonders who in the PR department thought this was a good announcement to make and whether he/she still works at Apple.
For instance, it does the content recognition and offers to create calendar events for phrases like "tomorrow", "September 18th", and so forth out of my email. Also, it knows where I live and where I work and tells me how long it'll take to drive back and forth (which isn't helpful to me because I walk), but it also notices when I'm spending the night with my girlfriend because it starts telling me how long it'll take to go to her place.
Perhaps for the level of sophistication Google offers, they need to keep your entire life stored in Google's data centers. But the kinds of features you point out, by and large, are more than possible without it. Your iPhone would know when you have a flight booked, because your boarding pass would be right there in Passbook. It would know when and where you land, because it has GPS. Google might have more clever technology for aggregating and displaying that information, but it doesn't inherently require sending all that data to Google's servers, and the fact that they do so is telling.