Apple Did Acquire 3D Mapping Company C3 Technologies

[MacRumors]

In August, we profiled a 3D mapping company called C3 Technologies that had been acquired by a mystery buyer. We suspected Apple was the purchaser of the company, but weren't able to prove it at the time.

Realtime map screenshot from C3 Technologies​

Now, it seems that Apple was indeed the buyer of the company, according to 9to5Mac's sources.

Sure enough, we have now learned Apple is now the owner of C3 Technologies. Sources say that C3 Technologies CEO Mattias Astrom , C3 Technologies CFO Kjell Cederstrand, and lead C3 Technologies Product Manager Ludvig Emgard are now working within Apple's iOS division. The leading trio, along with most of the former C3 Technologies team, is still working as a team in Sweden (interestingly, the division is now called "Sputnik"), where the C3 Technologies company was located prior to the Apple acquisition.

C3 Technologies made a big splash at CES 2011 when it began demoing its technology on both Android and iOS devices. The company uses formerly classified missile targeting technology to achieve its impressive 3D mapping effects. The company's official YouTube videos have been pulled, but some examples remain. This video shows a flythrough of Oslo, Norway (video improperly labeled):

The technology had also been previously licensed by Yell.com and Nokia.

Apple's interest in the technology is obvious. The company has been dependent on Google's mapping technology for their iOS devices, but has been steadily making acquisitions to replace that technology. Apple has been heavily recruiting for their Geo Team and has even revealed in iOS 5 that they are planning their own full mapping solution.

Article Link: Apple Did Acquire 3D Mapping Company C3 Technologies

 

[QuarterSwede]

Saw this earlier. The tech would be very useful. When Apple finally decides to do Map data itself I can see it being very compelling.

 

[nfl46]

Prediction:

2012 iPhone best selling point will be the maps and larger screen. The screen will have some kind of 3D capabilities, similar to the Evo 3D, but much better.

 

[something3153]

I just want this in my car. Forget the phone.

 

[dethmaShine]

Wow.

Cannot wait to start people saying Apple copied the idea of 3D mapping from Google Maps.

Lovely.

 

[gmcalpin]

Jeeeeeezus. That is so much more impressive than Google Street View.

My jaw literally dropped a little.

 

[oiuh151]

iOS 6 maps app anyone?

 

[atomwork]

Good move. Apple could take away crucial user data / behavior from Google and making their service less important for advertisers on the iOS platform (iAds).

 

[HiRez]

That is some crazy s#*%!

One thing I wonder if we're going to see is localized location. What I mean is like GPS, but much more accurate, so you can tell where you and others are say inside a museum, or at a festival, or in a stadium at a game. I guess this would require the venue to place a bunch of receivers around the place which would talk to your phone somehow (Bluetooth, RFID, WiFi whatever). Then you could overlay a floor plan and see exactly where you are (imagine you're sitting in the upper deck somewhere: "Siri, find me the closest men's bathroom", or "Find me the Titanic exhibit room"). Using this type of technology, you could get very accurate local placement without interfering with (or relying on) the military-mandated degradation of the GPS signal, and you'd have better reception indoors than GPS provides.

 

[DaveN]

Apple keeps snapping up groundbreaking companies

Nice to have a pile of cash to buy emerging 'best of' companies. Woo hoo!!

 

[dethmaShine]

Good move. Apple could take away crucial user data / behavior from Google and making their service less important for advertisers on the iOS platform (iAds).

Apple doesn't like iAds at all.

 

[MacSince1990]

Something tells me Android support is going to be dropped

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Prediction:

2012 iPhone best selling point will be the maps and larger screen. The screen will have some kind of 3D capabilities, similar to the Evo 3D, but much better.

I lol'd.

 

[slrandall]

Can't wait. The Maps app could really use an overhaul.

And by "Can't wait.", I mean, "Holy crap, that looks really, really impressive."

 

[Piggie]

So, do we expect, like Google, Apple will make this viewable/usable to everyone with a computer/hand held product, and not just keep it for Apple use only?

This, like a touch screen interface, is the type of thing that no one company should ever be able to own and keep to itself as its potentially of benefit to anyone on the planet, and as such should not be withheld from access by others with different products.

Can you imagine for example if google maps, google street view and google earth had always been banned from running on any apple products and how wrong that would be for google to do this.

And the same should apply to Apple with this.

 

[ipedro]

Maps are one of the key features in a smartphone and Apple is terribly behind on that. No turn by turn mapping and sorely outdated 2D map design. Android has the edge on this.

Both iOS4 and then iOS5 were rumoured to bring a brand new Maps app but all that happened were minor tweaks. iOS6 is best positioned to finally bring this new map app, but I'd like to see it happen way before. They're already years behind, another year is going to hurt the iOS brand even further if they can't catch up.

 

[rickdollar]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

This would explain why they didn't do any work on the maps this time around. No voice turn-by-turn, etc. They were also hiring someone to "take maps to the next level" last year, I believe it was.
Can't wait to see what they do with maps in iOS6. Hopefully sooner!

 

[Ballis]

those oslo maps are damn good.

 

[CubusX]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A334)

5 or 6 iPhones later, we are getting a map update and hopefully turn by turn navigation...

 

[rcappo]

Can you pre-cache some locations so they don't have to load off the network? Or if you are at the Grand Canyon and there is no network?

I would be willing to give up 4-10 GB for that. I would also like to do that with the regular maps as well.

 

[iBug2]

So, do we expect, like Google, Apple will make this viewable/usable to everyone with a computer/hand held product, and not just keep it for Apple use only?

This, like a touch screen interface, is the type of thing that no one company should ever be able to own and keep to itself as its potentially of benefit to anyone on the planet, and as such should not be withheld from access by others with different products.

Can you imagine for example if google maps, google street view and google earth had always been banned from running on any apple products and how wrong that would be for google to do this.

And the same should apply to Apple with this.

Apple's and oranges. You can't compare them like that. Google does not sell Android. Apple sells iOS. Google makes money off advertisers, Apple makes money by selling products. So Google canceling the use of their services in Apple products works against Google, not for them. Yet Apple keeping their technologies for themselves works for Apple, not against them. So you can bet that Apple won't give this to anyone else.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A334)

5 or 6 iPhones later, we are getting a map update and hopefully turn by turn navigation...

No joke. It's such an embarrassment for them I really hope that's the next big update.

 

[dethmaShine]

Maps are one of the key features in a smartphone and Apple is terribly behind on that. No turn by turn mapping and sorely outdated 2D map design. Android has the edge on this.

Both iOS4 and then iOS5 were rumoured to bring a brand new Maps app but all that happened were minor tweaks. iOS6 is best positioned to finally bring this new map app, but I'd like to see it happen way before. They're already years behind, another year is going to hurt the iOS brand even further if they can't catch up.

Sad to say that iOS updates for 4.1, 4.2, etc brought some new features, etc. but they were never something very big or something that deserved recognition.

I would suggest iOS 6(June 2012) to bring all of this stuff together with TurnByTurn and 3D maps.

----------

Apple's and oranges. You can't compare them like that. Google does not sell Android. Apple sells iOS. Google makes money off advertisers, Apple makes money by selling products. So Google canceling the use of their services in Apple products works against Google, not for them. Yet Apple keeping their technologies for themselves works for Apple, not against them. So you can bet that Apple won't give this to anyone else.

Still, 3D mapping data is Android only.

 

[mox358]

This is some very impressive tech. This is standard fare for Apple though; getting behind on a feature and instead of rushing to compete, they sit back, build a better version and release it when they feel like it.

Notifications and Copy and Paste are the two big examples that spring to mind.

 

[FrizzleFryBen]

I miss terrain view. As an avid off-roader, I used the crap out of that view back when it used to have it on google maps for iOS. I hope that is included in the future.

 

[ipedro]

I guess we'll have to wait, but Fall 2012 (iOS6) is really really late for a new Maps app that should have been introduced 2 years ago. However, I don't know that Apple will put out such a huge update to an app mid iOS cycle.

Maybe a good opportunity would be the introduction of iPad 3 in the Spring with some goodies built into its launch date iOS update.