Skyhook hones in on another partner, Samsung's Wave to geo-locate like no other
By Darren Murph 
posted July 2nd 2010 7:41PM
posted July 2nd 2010 7:41PM
Skyhook Wireless seems to have located itself yet another major partner in its continued quest to pinpoint every single cellphone owner in the world. Sure, we're exaggerating a bit just to get you riled up, but there's no arguing the fact that the company fulfills "hundreds of millions of location requests every day across over 100 million handsets, netbooks and cameras." Or so it says, anyway. The latest company to buy into Skyhook's geo-locating promise -- which uses a mysterious combination of GPS, cellular and WiFi data to get a darn good lock on your current position in most any environment -- is Samsung, with the Bada-equipped Wave (S8500) first to tout it. As time goes on, even more Sammy phones will utilize Skyhook's technology, though we're left to wonder what exactly those models will be. Anyone up for educated guessing? Skyhook Wireless Partners with Samsung Electronics for Leading Location System
Consumers and developers to enjoy superior location performance on Samsung mobile devices
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Skyhook Wireless, provider of the Core Location Platform, today announced that Samsung will deploy Skyhook's technology across multiple Samsung mobile devices. The first handset to launch with Skyhook embedded will be the Samsung Wave (Model: S8500). The Wave is the initial handset to be released with Samsung's new, open mobile platform, Samsung bada, and is the cornerstone of the company's commitment to provide a smartphone for every lifestyle. With the addition of Skyhook, Samsung devices, such as the Wave, will better enable all location-aware applications by providing the most precise, reliable, and fastest location information available.
"Precise location is central to the mobile experience, and Skyhook's Core Location will provide Samsung mobile devices with market-leading location capabilities."
Geo-location is at the center of mobile innovation and is fundamental to many emerging mobile services. Today, there are thousands of mobile applications that incorporate location as a part of their user experience. Precise location enables consumers to check-in with friends, find nearby concerts and exhibits, or get directions to the destinations of their choice. For some experiences, such as turn-by-turn navigation or local search, location is the central feature, but increasingly applications such as Twitter, Shazam and OpenTable incorporate location to simplify user experience and to personalize content delivery.
"Samsung is committed to delivering the maximum benefits of smartphones for our customers and developer partners," said Hyungmoon Noh, Vice President of R&D Planning Team at Samsung Electronics at Samsung. "Precise location is central to the mobile experience, and Skyhook's Core Location will provide Samsung mobile devices with market-leading location capabilities."
Skyhook is the recognized leader in geo-location technology and fulfills hundreds of millions of location requests every day across over 100 million handsets, netbooks and cameras. Skyhook's ground-breaking Core Location system uses a combination of Wi-Fi, cellular and GPS readings to produce a single, accurate location quickly and in all environments.
"Samsung creates innovative mobile platforms and user experiences," said Michael Shean, Founder & SVP, Business Development, Skyhook Wireless. "Skyhook is thrilled to further enhance the Samsung smartphone experience with superior location accuracy and availability on Samsung bada and other platforms."
Samsung makes great phones but is the world ready for yet another mobile OS? I don't know but I don't see BADA having a large crowd following it
@Eroded Fallacy the more the merrier. The more players we have, the more option the consumer has. We are very far from having "too many". It's still a fairly large market with relatively few options on the table when you compare it to, perhaps say the car market. Many makes/models and a lot of choice.
Perhaps the Galaxy S will have this in an update down the track...
@Eroded Fallacy
I do agree that we don't really need a new phone os but if they do it's got alot of competition with apple & android
@okok only Apple Fanboys bought i
So are you saying that 90% of the world which uses Windows are all Fan Boys then?
iPhone changed the market space, Android is trying to take it back, everyone else is a follower or a failure. Bada has a great foundation, but it wont survive unless the developers follow, and there is no money in it so they wont, and i like run on sentences.
@okok only Apple Fanboys bought i
Why do you assume that you know what I am thinking? I did not claim to be a fan boy of any sort. Way to take my comment out of context! I have tried every type of phone there is, and have used every mobile OS there is. Did I pledge any allegiance to Apple or Google NO! They both make great products but no one here was speaking a bout them to begin with. Looks like the one here without brains here is you!
@Eroded Fallacy the wave isn't made for the US market, samsung made it for emerging smartphone markets that can't afford iPhones and the like
I'm pretty sure Skyhook is related to Skynet somehow.....
@Plazmic Flame
Ha ha, how sweet would a phone be if it turned into a terminator!
@okok only Apple Fanboys bought i
Canada you write something meaningful instead of this bullshit?
@Eroded Fallacy You seem to think or be under the impression that sammy and bada customers are choosing this OS. It's much closer to them choosing an affordable phone that is attractive. Also, they happen to have some good game developers who can make the OS enjoyable for those who end up with it.
@okok only Apple Fanboys bought i
Please just die you idiot
@Eroded Fallacy
Well, considering that it´s one month old and that the phone is being outsold here in Europe I think you´ll change your opinion sooner than later.
By the way it´s THE BEST multimedia phone out there, period. ;-)
this is actually better specs than galaxy, slammer and has led flash but running bada....
Something like the Galaxy S running Symbian^3
I remember this. Looked like a very unpolished iPhone UI. But then again, wasn't Samsung working on this before iPhone was introduced?
Either way, I wasn't impressed by it.
Also, I'm guessing their Galaxy S line-up skin is from Bada?
Bada while being new is still better than android in the looks department at least.
@BrookLynnsFinest
Of course, looks are nothing without brains. We don't really need another mobile platform that favors form over function.
@Dafrety
That's what you think...
I believe differently. And more importantly its about WHAT SELLS. You android fanboys seem to not understand what SELLS phones. What people truly want.
And that is what will defeat you in the end
@BrookLynnsFinest Actually, I think Google understands what people generally want from a phone, they just haven't been traditionally strong at end user software design. Most of their software that has a nice interface was bought, the only exception that comes to mind is chrome. That said, it's basically now a race between Apple being able to expand their platform as much as possible while staying the developer favorite, while Google tries to refine Android to the point where it's a reasonable alternative for the average consumer. I met a young girl recently who just purchased a droid incredible and told me she wanted an iphone but needed to be on Verizon, but after after getting her phone she no longer cared about the iphone. I think this is the biggest threat to apple, it's microsoft in the 90's all over again, it's not better, just 'good enough'. Despite my distaste for some of Apple's practices and the general smug around it's hardcore userbase, I feel like they somewhat deserve to win this war since they really did invent the UI that everyone is starting to take for granted. The dark horse is Microsoft, who is going to come as hard as they possibly can on this because if they don't catch up the game is over, mobile will take over from regular laptop/desktops and eventually dwarf them in marketshare.
@BrookLynnsFinest
Yes, that is what I think. That's my opinion. Many other people have this opinion as well. Apparently your opinion is that you don't care how well it works so as long as it's glossy and shiny.
"And that is what will defeat you in the end" What? Now I need to be defeated? Hur! I couldn't care less about what sells. All I care about is that the phone I buy does what I want it to do, which my phone does perfectly well.
I don't need to toss around numbers and sale stats to make myself feel better about my purchase. The only people that should be doing that are those in charge of running the companies churning these out.
Keep lumping people into groups and calling them terrible names, BrookLynns"Finest," I'm sure you'll end up again with another banned account. ;)
@Dafrety +1
"I don't need to toss around numbers and sale stats to make myself feel better about my purchase"
we need more human beings like you, your majesty
@BrookLynnsFinest And u have just been ranked to oblivion. Goodbye.
@Leegh229
Still here loser
@BrookLynnsFinest
Then why do "you choose to ignore my valid points?"
Looks nice I guess, but I'd rather go with the iPhone (if all the issues are resolved) or one of the few higher end Android phones available in Canada.
That being said, competition is always good, keep the other mobile operating systems on their toes ;)
"there's no arguing the fact that the company fulfills "hundreds of millions of location requests every day across over 100 million handsets, netbooks and cameras." Or so it says, anyway." - only in blog land can you get away with something like this
BADA Bing?
Samsun have been using GypSii for awhile, and I really didn't like it -- hopefully tis is better.
Bada is based on Linux kernel. It is much stable and faster than Android.
Apple iOS is based on UNIX which Linux is also based on ---> which Bada is based on.
Its relatively easy for Linux developers to move over to the Bada platform.
What people dont realize is that Samsung is in the process of putting Bada into their millions of TVs, set top boxes and other home theater hardware applications. Think of the potential from a mobile developer point of view the new potential market this brings.
Bada is targeted for the feature phone user who wants a bit more versaility and power but not the price of a real full blown smartphone architectures like Android, iOS and others.
Remember, Samsung sold 220 million features phones/smartphone last year, it is the worlds #2 in cell phone sales. They have the network relationships (just look at how they will launch Galaxy S on ALL 4 major carriers in the US), marketing power ( biggest electronics company in the world), and the know-how ( their R&D department has over 10,000 engineers who have PhD's).
Also they practically make everything that goes into their devices, from the memory chips, display, core processors, the hard drives, motherboards and others.
If you look at their business history, any market that they decide to go in, within 2-3 years, they are at or near the top in market share.
So I would say dont underestimate Samsung when it comes to fulfilling their goals. They will get there no matter what.
@ConceptVBS
Oh and Bada was in development for 6 years.
@ConceptVBS
So how would you compare Bada to MeeGo?
@ConceptVBS
They knew in 2004 that they would want a TS OS?
Anyway, for the rest of what you say I totally agree. I hated every Samsung phone I've tried so far but I've heard so much good about the Wave that I ordered one.
Wonder if any of the Galaxies would make it to see this...
It's not the matter how many OS's there are , it's the matter that they're still looking for one that works. It still hasn't been found but with all the money being spent why should they complain. Per Se: yay advertisement, the more you look at it the more you'll want to buy.
With the wave you get a lot of phone for your money.
The software that's installed on it is okayish. As about apps I fear that the old style C++ with 2 phased constructors and without exception handling isn't going to attract a lot of developers.