AppleInsider Staff
Apple has reportedly hired the cofounder and CEO of indoor location startup Wifarer for a "leadership role" — but did not acquire the company — in yet another sign that the iPhone maker is gearing up for a strong mapping push in its next-generation mobile operating system.
Wifarer cofounder Philip Stanger is said to have joined Apple in February, leaving his own company in the hands of a new CEO. The move was first noticed by TechCrunch.
Stanger's background is somewhat nontraditional for an Apple technical hire, the publication noted, as he attended Johns Hopkins and Yale before stints at the BBC and Paramount Pictures. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees in music from those institutions, according to his LinkedIn profile.
It is possible that Stanger was brought in to help with the user-facing components of a new indoor location strategy for Apple's maps. "Indoor GPS" company WifiSLAM was acquired by Apple last march, but that acquisition brought engineering expertise and "core technology" rather than an existing consumer product.
No other Wifarer employees appear to have made the jump to Apple with Stanger, and it is unknown why Apple did not acquire the firm outright. As noted by TechCrunch, Wifarer has a number of pending location-related U.S. patents.
Apple is widely expected to make maps a priority in iOS 8 after the function received a largely cosmetic makeover in iOS 7. The company will likely leverage previous acquisitions Embark, HopStop, BroadMap, and Locationary to provide improved geolocation, more detailed point-of-interest data, and public transit routing.
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31 Comments
I hate to say it but Apple maps is still horrible as is Siri integration. I was in Seattle last week and I needed some grocery items. Siri was a complete failure so I turned to Google which found a nice gourmet grocery very near my hotel. "Ralph's Grocery & Deli". I asked Siri for directions to said grocery and she said she could not find it. This is a fairly large grocery with a giant sign on the front of the building located on a busy corner in the center of downtown Seattle. What is the problem?
Looks like this company's IP is solely based on Bluetooth LE, so not sure there would be a lot of value for Apple to acquire the whole company. They probably hired this guy to manage iBeacons engineers already at Apple.
I hate to say it but Apple maps is still horrible as is Siri integration. I was in Seattle last week and I needed some grocery items. Siri was a complete failure so I turned to Google which found a nice gourmet grocery very near my hotel. "Ralph's Grocery & Deli". I asked Siri for directions to said grocery and she said she could not find it. This is a fairly large grocery with a giant sign on the front of the building located on a busy corner in the center of downtown Seattle. What is the problem?
Missing points of interest. Apple Maps is still missing some POI data. iOS 8 is supposed to include an overhaul in this area.
And to be fair, if it didn't show up on the Map, Siri wasn't going to do anything for you...so thats not an accurate knock on Siri.
I hate to say it but Apple maps is still horrible as is Siri integration. I was in Seattle last week and I needed some grocery items. Siri was a complete failure so I turned to Google which found a nice gourmet grocery very near my hotel. "Ralph's Grocery & Deli". I asked Siri for directions to said grocery and she said she could not find it. This is a fairly large grocery with a giant sign on the front of the building located on a busy corner in the center of downtown Seattle. What is the problem?
Large grocery store is ok! But why did you mentioned a giant sign? Do you think the satellites read the boards?
// I know Apple Maps has so much room to improve. :|
[quote name="mstone" url="/t/179007/apple-nabs-indoor-navigation-company-ceo-ahead-of-anticipated-ios-8-maps-push#post_2525602"]I hate to say it but Apple maps is still horrible as is Siri integration. I was in Seattle last week and I needed some grocery items. Siri was a complete failure so I turned to Google which found a nice gourmet grocery very near my hotel. "Ralph's Grocery & Deli". I asked Siri for directions to said grocery and she said she could not find it. This is a fairly large grocery with a giant sign on the front of the building located on a busy corner in the center of downtown Seattle. What is the problem? [/quote] 1) I'm sure there are still pieces places but I use Maps exclusively [S]and haven't had issues[/S]*. How is Maps compared to Google Maps at this time its life? I'd say it's probably better, of course that's beside the point if you want something and it doesn't exist on one but does the other, but it does point to Maps being updated faster. Did submit the issue? 2) Not having Ralph's is odd since it's so well known. What street was it on? I want to see if I can recreate the issue. * I did have one issue. It listed my GP's medical park properly but the directions had me going up one too many streets to do a U-turn instead of turning left on another street to enter the park. I submitted a request for change.