Apple buys 3D mapping firm to boost location platform
Technology promises "Google maps on steroids", could be a key differentiator for 'iPhone 5'
Published: 31 October, 2011
READ MORE: M&A | Apple | Location | iOS
Mapping lies at the heart of the smartphone experience Nokia delivered last week with its Lumia devices, and the company's deployment of its Navteq acquisition has been one of its rare flashes of genius in the alien mobile web world. Apple, which has been outshone on this front by its major rivals, is chasing hard to catch up, and has made a trio of acquisitions in the past year or so, most recently 3D maps specialist C3 Technologies of Sweden.
The firm was actually sold in August, to an unknown buyer which, it now emerges, was Apple. The iPhone maker closed down the operation and absorbed its products and staff into the iOS division, retaining former CEO Mattias Astrom, CFO Kjell Cederstrand, and lead product manager Ludvig Emgard. Other team members will remain in Sweden as an Apple unit named 'Sputnik'.
C3 was developing a 3D mapping technology which supports photorealistic maps without any need for human development of the graphics. According to the 9to5 Mac blog, the technology is based on declassified missile targeting technology, described by Emgard as "Google Maps on steroids …. much more realistic, it's a complete canvas."
But the real interest in Apple's stepped-up activities in this area lies not in how clever the actual location technology is, but how the vendor might marry super-accurate data with Apple-quality design and experience, to create something more rich and appealing than Google Maps or Nokia Maps.
The company joins another 3D mapping acquisition, Poly9, as well as Placebase, which Apple bought in June. Such purchases will be important to keep the iPhone differentiated - as the iPhone 4S indicated, it becomes harder to make a handset stand out on the basis of performance, and Apple is cautious about tinkering too much with its basic user experience, so it will rely on new embedded functionality like the Siri voice recognition system. Also, creating its own location platform will enable it to cut the ties completely with Google Maps. Last year, Apple renewed its licensing agreement for mapping and search services on iOS, 'and we hope these continue for a long time', as chairman Eric Schmidt put it at the time. But it has been pursuing a hybrid strategy with increasing emphasis on its own databases and apps, especially as the iDevices have a rather sub-standard variant on Google Maps.
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