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created over 2 years ago | Tagged: |
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According to French-language newspaper Le Soleil, Apple has acquired Poly9, an online mapping company based in Quebec.
The translated article reports that since the acquisition, the majority of Poly9 employees have moved from Quebec to Apple’s offices in California. As Apple Insider notes, the Poly9 website is down, although parts of the Poly9 Globe site are still accessible.
The Poly9 Globe was described as “a cross-browser, cross-platform 3D globe which does not require any download.” Think of it as a JavaScript-based 3D globe that can be manipulated with your mouse to adjust its axis and rotation points. The software then offers users statistics on their virtual locations. Basically it’s Google Earth in the browser.
If this report is true (we are awaiting confirmation from Apple) this is the second location-based acquisition that Apple has made in the past 12 months. Last July, Apple acquired Placebase, although like the Poly9 deal, the move was quiet.
As recently surfaced patent submissions have made clear, Apple is definitely exploring the mobile location space.
The online mapping space has become largely dominated by Google, whose mapping applications in the browser and on mobile devices are being used more and more every day.
What Apple’s plans are for Poly9 or its IP is unclear, although we wouldn’t bet against it having a strong mobile focus. iEarth anyone?
