The sending of an SMS at the first run of an application is what caused a furor in the Ovi store when NewLC released the Symbian application Phone Info. In that instance the application was offered at no charge but sent an SMS to a UK number on first start-up. I believe it asked permission prior to sending but it has been many months and I do not recall. For many people this is an international SMS and caused some folks to have to pay the international SMS rate to use the free program. The argument went that the application was not really "free" since they had to pay for the SMS. That NewLC did not receive any funds did not enter into this discussion.

Phone owners are very sensitive about what comes from and goes to his or her phone to the point of irrationality at times. I can understand it. The feelings expressed by x-lette are widely held.

I do not recall receiving a notification about the Nokia SMS as part of the PR1.2 update. However, it saved me from having to add the device to my Nokia account. I had previously registered my 5610 and 5800 XpressMusic. For these devices I receive about three SMS or e-mail notifications per month. It is because I was already with an account that I didn't attach any importance to the notification, if I received it.

I do not feel there was a privacy breach in the sense that my personal information is "out there". I guess it all comes down to one's personal tolerance for having this sort of information extracted even for limited distribution.