US-based tech company Apple is known as an information technology innovator. It appears as though the company is now planning on expanding on indoor wireless technology, as it has recently acquired WiFiSLAM, which is a wireless indoor-mapping solution.
WiFiSLAM is the result of the work put in by a former Google intern; it maps out interior spaces using wireless technology. It is estimated that the company was purchased for USD 20 million. Even though this amount seems to be a bit surprising, Apple has had its eye on the indoor mapping market.
It is expected that Google will be competing with Apple for a share of the indoor mapping market and the acquisition shows how important this technology really is. According to information from IMS Research, companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google will be leading the race for indoor technology in the near future.
It is also estimated that roughly 120,000 maps of indoor venues will be created by the year 2016 and these will be available to consumers as well. The term WiFiSLAM stands for wireless simulateous localization and mapping. The mapping is done with the help of data reporting in most cases, however it is possible to map indoor locations with no reporting of data as well.
