An Apple store in New York
Consumer tech giant Apple has acquired WifiSLAM, an indoor-GPS company, for a reported US$20m.
The deal, the Wall Street Journal reported, helps strengthen Apple’s position against Google in mapping, as well as being an indication that the battle over indoor mobile location services is intensifying.
The newspaper quoted an Apple spokesman as having said Apple buys smaller tech companies from time to time and generally does not discuss its plans.
WifiSLAM, which enables mobile apps to detect a user’s location in a building, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The two-year-old start-up has been offering its technology to app developers for indoor mapping and new types of retail and social networking apps, the Wall Street Journal reported.
