Apple Buys Indoor Mapping Company WifiSLAM

Apple has confirmed that it has purchased a company called WifiSLAM for an undisclosed sum. WifiSLAM offers indoor mapping services for mobile devices.

The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica E. Lessin reported, “Apple Inc. has acquired the indoor-GPS company WifiSLAM, a sign that a war over indoor mobile-location services is heating up. Apple paid around $20 million for the Silicon Valley-based startup, according to a person familiar with the matter who said the deal closed recently.”

Michelle Maisto with eWeek observed, “The deal underscores the importance of the growing indoor mapping market, in which it is expected that Apple—as with the outdoor world—will compete first and foremost with Google. Research firm IMS Research forecast in June 2012 that Apple, Google and Microsoft will be the dominant providers of mapping services for indoor spaces, and that by 2016, nearly 120,000 indoor venue maps will be available to consumers.”

The Telegraph’s Richard Holt noted, “Google has invested time and money in accepting more than 10,000 floor plans from businesses who want to be featured. Its service also draws data from nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and signal towers to pinpoint location in a way which is more accurate than satellite positioning. Apple has long been playing catch-up with Google in mapping. Last year it faced a barrage of criticism over omissions and errors in its new Maps app for the iPhone, which it created to replace Google Maps in the newly-released iOS6.”

Reuters quoted an Apple spokesperson, who said, “Apple acquires smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

• Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  December 16, 2020

• AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  December 11, 2020

• Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  December 04, 2020

• Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 18, 2020

• Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  November 10, 2020

• Top 10 AIOps Companies

  FEATURE |  By Samuel Greengard,
  November 05, 2020

• What is Text Analysis?

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 02, 2020

• How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 29, 2020

• Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 23, 2020

• The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 16, 2020

• Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  October 07, 2020

• Finding a Career Path in AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  October 05, 2020

• CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  September 25, 2020

• Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 25, 2020

• Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  September 22, 2020

• NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 18, 2020

• Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 14, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 13, 2020

• IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 11, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  September 09, 2020