AppleInsider Staff
In the midst of a major overhaul for its Maps service, Apple seems to have made another under-the-radar acquisition as the company apparently snapped up Coherent Navigation, makers of high-accuracy GPS devices and software.
Coherent Navigation co-founders Paul Lego, William Bencze, and Brett Ledvina have all joined Apple in recent weeks, and the company's domain name has been redirected to Apple's network. The changes were first noted by MacRumors.
The reasons behind the acquisition are unclear, but it's likely that Apple is interested in bolstering the accuracy of its GPS-based location services. Lego lists himself as a member of Apple's Maps team, while Bencze and Ledvina point to positions in location technologies.
Coherent specialized in high-precision GPS, which combines standard GPS data with data from the Iridium satellite communications constellation. It made devices for civilian use and was involved in numerous projects with the U.S. government, including military location technologies.
Apple is known to be overhauling Maps 'front-to-back,' and a growing number of services and applications — Â including many on the Apple Watch — Â rely on precise location data. The company is expected to unveil its next update during June's Worldwide Developers Conference.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
26 Comments
I guess it's official. It has been added to the Wikipedia list of acquisitions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple Self driving cars may require high accuracy GPS. Heck, Apple might as well buy Iridium Communications while they are at it. It's market cap is less than a Billion USD, and they make some cool global WiFi devices on top of the global satellite network. These access points sell for about a thousand USD at Amazon. Imagine video conferencing anywhere in the world over the Iridium network. [VIDEO]https://youtu.be/hcrBE5hkuRU[/VIDEO] Time will tell. Note that Coherent Navigation also "integrates solutions with global two-way communications for enhanced utility and security." Check out this Stanford presentation... http://scpnt.stanford.edu/pnt/PNT09/presentation_slides/12_Bencze_iGPS.pdf
Well, I bet nobody steps on him!
I doubt a Maps redo would involve them just yet, if they're really planning to unveil it at WWDC that's not a lot of time to integrate their technology into the existing program. Unless they were using it before they made the acquisition.
Well, I bet nobody steps on him!
I doubt a Maps redo would involve them just yet, if they're really planning to unveil it at WWDC that's not a lot of time to integrate their technology into the existing program. Unless they were using it before they made the acquisition.
'Using it' or 'realized their cool tech was a patent infringement' It may have been cheaper/easier/market-locking-outable to buy the company instead of negotiating royalties. You'd hate to have something 'killer' that every other wearable needs can could do with new chips and some good trigonometry, and not be able to make your competitors sweat out a new design for a couple years, giving you a 2 generation lead.
"high-accuracy GPS". How much?
High accuracy gps could also be crucial for self driving cars. Cool. Thinking back, being force her hand by google on the map was a good thing for Apple.