iPhone pushing demand for location-based tech
updated 12:05 pm EDT, Mon April 27, 2009
iPhone moves location tech
The iPhone is pushing the demand for location-based services, claims Skyhook Wireless. The company produces software which unites GPS, Wi-Fi and cellular information in order to deliver location data; the technology is integrated into the iPhone, which it notes is amassing a dramatically escalating number of location-based apps. Whereas only a few dozen existed in August of last year, there are now over 2,000 as of April, and it is predicted that 2010 could see five times that number. Some 200 million location queries are served by Skyhook each day, the company comments.
New competition is also arising in the form of Google's Latitude, which only covers six cities in the US, but which is being distributed for free unlike the content provided by Skyhook. Sony's XPERIA smartphones are among the first to use the Latitude technology; Skyhook insists that it is not worried however, as a result of covering 70 percent of Europe and the US, plus some Asian cities.
