Earlier today, we posted a report from TNW that showed UK carrier O2, had been transmitting phone numbers to every website visited via their 2G or 3G network.

After the backlash on Twitter, O2 acknowledged and fixed the issue at 2pm GMT today, followed by an apology on their blog, including a Q&A to explain exactly what happened and who was affected.

We have seen the report published this morning suggesting the potential for disclosure of customers’ mobile phone numbers to website owners. We investigated, identified and fixed it this afternoon. We would like to apologise for the concern we have caused.

The issue occurred after a routine maintenance update on January 10th, that accidentally sent user phone numbers to website hosts, along with the standard log of technical information required from the device.

Q: Why did this happen? A: Technical changes we implemented as part of routine maintenance had the unintended effect of making it possible in certain circumstances for website owners to see the mobile numbers of those browsing their site.

Technical information is normally sent to websites so that servers can deliver a ‘device-optimised’ experience. Carriers add your phone number to this information, when sending data to ‘trusted partners’, to enable services that require; age verification, premium-content billing, and carrier specific services.

It seems that O2 have fixed the problem now, but after 15 days… is it too little, too late?

Source: O2 Blog

In reference to last week’s news that Amazon pulled copies unlicensed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm off users’ Kindles and iPhone Kindle apps, Jeff Bezos proves that sometimes the buck still stops at the top:

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

Nice.

Vindication! Well, kind of. Our MobileMe is still having problems but at least Apple admits that the transition from .Mac to MobileMe was “rocky” by sending an e-mail/apology letter to all MobileMe users. Billed as Exchange for the rest of us, MobileMe is still having problems with syncing, calendar, duplicate messages, etc. Not quite that Blackberry killer we envisioned.

Also, Apple will stop using the word push to describe MobileMe until syncing is “near-instant” on Mac and PCs like it is for the iPhone and Web Apps. Not that “15 minute” version of push it currently is. Either way, Apple is begging (read: bribing) for your forgiveness with a free 30 day extension to all current subscribers.

It’s good to see Apple admit mistake and take care of their customers, but I’m fairly certain most of us would have rather had a product that ‘just works’. Unreliability, problems, and false promises are for the folks over in Redmond, this is supposed to be Apple right?

Thanks for the tip Cherryhead25!

Read on for MobileMe’s full apology letter!