(Image courtesy of gizmodo.com)

First they run into troubles with iPhone 4 pre-orders.  Then once people received those joyous pre-orders, hardware troubles started to arise.  What's next for Apple?  Oh just getting called out by Germany on alleged transparency issues, according to DailyTech.

Germany's Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in an interview (and this is via rough Google translation) with Der Spiegel that Apple has to immediately adopt more transparency.  "Users of iPhones and other GPS devices must be aware of what kind of information about them is being collected," she stated.

She thinks that Apple has to "immediately make clear" what information it is that it plans on collecting.  She thinks Apple must "open its databases to German data protection authorities" and make a clear position on just how long it intends to remain in possession of user data.

All this is after changes to Apple's privacy policy, which details that Apple might be tracking and storing user locations through GPS.  In doing so, it allows Apple to better their ads, which of course would lead to new revenue opportunities, but of course there's that whole privacy thing.

You can certainly decline allowing non-Apple apps the chance to track location data, but what's not clear is whether this is true of Apple apps as well.

Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger claims it "unthinkable" that Apple would track users' locations or collect information for detecting user personalities.  "Apple has the obligation to properly implement the transparency so often promised by (CEO) Steve Jobs," she continues.

Apple's not the only one though involved in Germany's increasing stance on privacy issues.  The Justice Minister recently criticized Facebook, disagreeing with Mark Zuckerberg in his beliefs of no one caring about privacy.  She ultimately quit the site, over concerns about privacy.

Follow this article's author, Matthew Tilmann on Twitter.