According to some unconfirmed reports, Apple has acquired Poly9 Group – a Canadian online mapping startup that creates 3-D global maps. The Poly9 acquisition essentially merges with Apple’s last year buyout of mapping service Placebase.
Though there has been no confirmation of the acquisition by either Apple or Poly9, a report at French site Cyberpress. ca has revealed that Poly9, which was shuttered in June-end, with most of its staff relocated to Apple’s Cupertino campus.
Internet users are familiar with Poly9, which is the developer of Poly9 Globe – the 3D, flash-based representation that can have data and mapping information plotted onto it in a manner similar to Google Earth. Poly9 is also known for fueling NORAD’s holiday tracking of Santa Claus’s yearly expedition around the world.
With the acquisition of Poly9, Apple has thus far, ever since its 1976 founding, acquired 28 companies – picking up smaller companies, from time to time, to suit its strategic planning -, though it has largely preferred developing its own products and technologies.
However, noting that with the intensifying competition in the smartphone arena Apple needs to acquire talent to face pressures from competitors like Google, Kevin Burden, an analyst with ABI Research, said: “If they’re going to keep pace and remain an innovation leader, they’re realizing they can’t build everything in Cupertino all the time. They have to bring in more targeted technologies.”
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