Update 2: Motorola Chooses Skyhook for Location (over Google)
It seems Google’s location database will still be accessible and perhaps used in the Motorola phones.
But, Motorola officials said, Google’s location data will still be available on the phone, and apps may end up using it in some cases. The phone will first seek Skyhook data, but in some cases will also check Google. And depending on which gives the stronger and faster reading, the device will make a decision as to which is used.
—- update 4/27/10——
So, I asked “why”? Here are some possible answers:
“But we’ve heard that developers are not thrilled with the built-in location services on Android devices, so Skyhook could be a better alternative.”
“It also helped, Morgan [CEO of Skyhook] says, that Skyhook has direct relationships with scores of mobile-software developers who have built location-related apps for the iPhone platform and who say they want Skyhook’s system on Android devices.”
“To convince Motorola to pay for location data—Skyhook licenses its system on a per-handset basis—the company had to show that its system would make the company’s smartphones far more useful when users are checking maps or using location-aware apps.”
- Xconomy
And, some more details:
But Motorola did not commit to using Skyhook technology on all its future Android phones, and a Motorola spokeswoman could not confirm whether the Skyhook-equipped phones would stop us ing other location detection software that is already built into the Android operating system.
Google of course, had no comment.
What besides cache Google is losing?
Nonetheless, there’s reason to believe that Google is unhappy about Motorola’s decision. After all, there’s much more at stake than just bragging rights about whose location-finding system is installed in millions of smartphones. If Motorola phones use Skyook’s hybrid GPS-, cellular-, and Wi-Fi-based system to find their locations rather than Google’s own similar technology, it means vast amounts of data about the locations and travel habits of mobile users will go into Skyhook’s databases instead of Google’s. And location data, in the coming era of targeted advertising and location-based search and mobile commerce, will be one of the hottest commodities around.
- Xconomy
—- original post 4/26/10—-
Motorola will formally announce its plans tomorrow; it will replace its current use of Google’s location API provided with Android, with Skyhooks, per ReadWriteWeb. The first phones with the new libraries will appear later this year and word is that developers need not change anything; it’ll just work.
Motorola may be the first hardware manufacturer to make the switch, but app providers including ShopSavvy and Flixster already incorporate the Skyhook API.
RWW provides no reason for the switch; perhaps Motorola will say tomorrow.
- RWW
