By that argument, if the intent was data harvesting, they wouldn't need to do this in real-time, they could also just periodically push a list of apps and launc

By that argument, if the intent was data harvesting, they wouldn't need to do this in real-time, they could also just periodically push a list of apps and launch dates/times without using the internet connection when an app is launched. That would certainly be a lot easier and a less expensive way to harvest data -- and it would also be more reliable since it could capture things that happen when offline. But that's not what they are doing.