Apple’s Korean unit has paid compensation to a user of its popular iPhone after collecting location data without consent, lawyers and court officials said – the first payout by the US company over these complaints.

In May, Apple Korea was ordered by the court to pay one million won (€660) in compensation to Kim Hyung-suk, a lawyer, two officials at Changwon District Court said yesterday. Mr Kim's firm, Mirae Law, said Apple had paid last month. Steve Park, a spokesman for Apple Korea, declined to comment.

Mirae Law said it was now preparing a class action lawsuit against Apple for the unauthorised data collection. A website for class action sign-up has been set up but was paralysed due to heavy traffic.

Apple released a software update in May to fix a problem that enabled its mobile devices to collect and store customers' location data. The revelation that Apple's iPhone collected data and stored it for up to a year has prompted renewed scrutiny of the nexus between location and privacy. – (Reuters)