Speculation that Apple may be preparing to build its own mapping application gained strength Wednesday on a report the Cupertino, Calif. company acquired a Canadian online mapping developer. If true, the report could be the latest skirmish between the iPhone maker and Internet giant Google.
French-Canadian news site cyberpresse.ca wrote Wednesday Apple purchased Quebec-based Poly9 and moved employees to Cupertino, Calif. The company’s website is also offline, as well as Poly9’s chief product, Poly9 Globe. The product, which operates in a web browser, lets users find their location on a 3D globe. Websites, including Skype.com reportedly offer the service.
Although there is no official comment by Apple, the Canadian report said Poly9 was “recently” acquired and it Quebec headquarters closed. The company’s customers include Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, MSNBC and NORAD.
The purchase could be the next step in Apple developing its own mapping application for the iPhone and iPad. In 2009, Apple acquired Placebase, a Google Maps rival, as well as advertising for someone to take iPhone’s Maps “to the next level.”
[AppleInsider]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
