IT major Apple Inc. has silently acquired a location-based crowdsourced data startup company named Locationary. The news has been
confirmed by the company itself while speaking to the All Things Digital on
this Friday only.
Locationary is basically a Toronto-based small startup company which
works on location-based data. It updates its data constantly in order to ensure
that all the local listings (business) are stay up-to-date. It eventually helps
a person to identify the exact location of a business, and not only that it
also readily informs a user about where the business goes when it shifts. It
also provides information like whether a particular listing is open or not and
several other highly valued, actionable data. So we can call it Wikipedia of
local business listings.
Apple’s confirmation has now made the acquisition official, and we can
hope that from now on Locationary will serve the end-users even more
effectively. However, the company didn’t provide a single hint on why it felt
the emergency of buying Locationary, but it is true that this move will
eventually help the tech giant for sure. To be honest the location-based data
of the startup may come in real handy with its very own Maps application.
Currently Google Maps is most
widely used application to find a certain location, as its data are pretty
accurate and timely updated. Now Locationary's data will actively ensure that
all the local business listings are kept as accurate as possible within the Apple’s Maps application. This may help
the company to come up with a readymade alternative to its rival Google Maps in
the days to come.
Another highlighting factor is that the terms and conditions of this
quick acquisition of the Apple are yet to be declared officially. The company
has not disclosed any of the details whatsoever till now. We may need to wait a
few days more to know about the actually price of the whole acquisition.
Interestingly in September 2012, Mr. Grant Ritchie, who is the CEO of Locationary,
wrote an article for one of the most popular tech news journal TechCrunch. In
the article he beautifully explained a list five top most challenges Apple
faces while unveiling its new mapping services. Now after a mere ten months
later Apple decided to buy Ritchie’s own company in order to overcome those
challenges.
Your Words
What do you think about this latest acquisition of Apple? Will Locationary be able to enhance the
Apple Maps? Please feel free to share your views on this topic with us.
It seems battle lines drawn between apple inc and Google
ReplyDelete@Bushra- Yeah that's true.....and battle between two big franchisees is always good for the end users.....
DeleteI wouldn't mind seeing Apple Maps. Apple usually pushes the ease of use and makes things more innovative. Where as Google is plain and simple. Both are good, but I'd like to see Apple Maps in action to see if it's implemented right. - Scott Craighead
ReplyDelete@Scott- You are right...even I love Apple's innovation, but it is somehow losing its spark after Job's death, and on the other hand Google is taking its footsteps on innovation with Google Glasses, Fiber, project Loon etc....
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