Boston (Fort Port Channel) based Skyhook Wireless announced today that they are providing advanced Wi-Fi positioning services to Broadcom. Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM) is upgrading its location based infrastructure semiconductors to include Wi-Fi positioning for all of its cell phone chips.
As you know Skyhook provides the cell-tower triangulation and Wi-Fi positioning that we’ve become accustomed to on our iPhone. If you’ve downloaded a location based iPhone app (NrMe, Where) then you’ve used a combination of GPS and Skyhook technology. This Broadcom deal opens up location based applications to a much larger market – the upcoming Android apps will explode it even more.
Skyhook currently monitors every new location based application that’s added to the iPhone application store and since it’s launch (Summer 2008) the number of applications has more than doubled to over 300.
The largest number of these applications cater to social networking, local search, navigation and public transportation.
In addition to their mobile software, Skyhook Wireless also has a neat application called Loki. Loki is a location based search and navigation tool that allows you to share your location with friends either on your blog, website or Facebook profile. Their Find Me and Local Search features give you the ability to pinpoint your exact location and find the closest coffee shop, respectively.
News: Techcrunch, Skyhook Wireless
