The Fast-Growing Location Market

The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung has signed a deal with Skyhook Wireless, a location-tracking company. Skyhook, like Google, uses vehicles to document the real-world location of WiFi hotspots, which it uses to triangulate the location of a cellphone. Skyhook already has deals with Apple, Dell and Motorola and Samsung is the second-largest handset maker in the world. The Journal provides some context on the reach of Skyhook's operation:

Skyhook Wireless has amassed a database of 230 million WiFi hotspots, which it uses to determine the location of a cellphone. The company gets paid a fee of less than a dollar every time its technology is put on a phone, said Ted Morgan, Skyhook's CEO. In total, the company said, its technology is embedded in more than 100 million handsets, netbooks and cameras.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/07/the-fast-growing-location-market/59200/