The reason why FM receivers are present on smartphones is that they can be used to locate your position by noting a simple thing as signal strength of transmitters. More advanced methods makes use of SNR, frequency deviation and multipath interference characteristics. And the same method can be used for WiFi which of course makes collection of such data very useful for localization purposes where GPS etc isn't useful. Arrival time of a radio signal that is reported to the operator from many devices may also be used for the same purpose.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @11:22PM
Google "FM Fingerprinting"
There's even programs (some of which are freeware!) which work with it for tracking.
Ever wonder why device X has FM radio support when it doesn't need it? Bingo.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday May 22 2014, @07:34AM
All I got was links to last.fm.
So people can listen to the radio? They tend not to even work unless you plug in the earphones, since it uses the lead as an antenna.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk