The spying software is developed by a company called Carrier IQ. On their site, the company says they are "the only embedded analytics company to support millions of devices simultaneously, we give Wireless Carriers and Handset Manufacturer's unprecedented insight into their customers' mobile experience."
Is this the best way to track user experience, dropped calls, and coverage problems? I think there is a better way and Deadcellzones.com has demonstrated that consumers are capable of reporting problems directly to a web site if given the resources to do it. Carrier IQ is a well funded VC backed company that tracks billions of anonymously reported coverage problems and dropped calls by passing along this data directly to the carrier. They receive millions of dollars per year from carriers to track this. However, does the carrier even do anything with the data despite the reported issues? Is this the classic "deer in headlights" problems with billions of reception problems reported? Isn't there a better way to prioritize the problems people are experiencing? How about trying crowdsourcing coverage problems from actual customers. Deadcellzones.com is certainly a model to start thinking about.
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