Per
usual, it seems as if this deal has happened in the dark of the night, but thankfully for the curious among us, it's a bit difficult to disguise a caravan of humans escaping Québec and fleeing to Cupertino. According to a report in
The Sun as well as an independent confirmation on our end, Apple has picked up a small Canadian firm by the name of Poly9. As of now, every last employee has been relocated to California, with the couple who declined left to find other work in the Great White North. Poly9's official website is also blanked out, but in the past, the company has been credited with developing loads of
web-based mapping programs (primarily in Flash, crazily enough) as well as APIs for a handful of monolithic clients like Microsoft, Yahoo!, NORAD and MSNBC. Generally speaking, Apple tends to integrate its purchases into the workflow at a rather rapid clip, so we're actually expecting
something to come of this in the not-too-distant future. What, exactly, remains to be seen.
[Thanks, Anonymous]
posted July 14th 2010 10:21AM
And so Apple invented Google Earth
@huzzlehoff really? does Apple really think they need to compete with Google Earth? Really? I don't see that as much of a market.
@Upwad0n No kidding... It's more gimmick than anything.
@Upwad0n
Funny thing is when I see google acquire something I can see how it benefit the end user. When I see Apple acquire something I see how it benefits their pockets.
@Upwad0n
Engadget, why report on this when you can report on
http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2010/07/14/apple-shares-drop-after-consumer-reports-article/
:)
@Upwad0n
Apple also acquired PlaceBase last year and searched for someone to "bring the maps application to the next level" in november. Apple's own, free navigation, finally. "Only on iPhone 4." :P
@Upwad0n
If you can't see it, doesn't mean someone can ;). I'd say Google Earth has potential in soooooo many ways. Maybe the most important set of geolocated data.
@huzzlehoff
The employees had to move to another country or they got fired? WTF!
@rutter9 Funny troll, because I would rather use any Apple product over any Google product any day. I prefer the polish.
Also, they are both corporations who want your money so stop pretending like one is good and one is bad.
Also this is all about ad-revenue. Apple is going for Google's throat and knees. Localized maps and embedded ads are the future.
@SeeKo
And so Apple acquired a company with zero employees.
@SeeKo They got buy outs. Don't be so stupid.
@nicholas1987ucsb
You're telling me you like ads?
iAds is a feature?
ROFL.
A fanboy calling someone a troll.
What has the world become nowadays.
Poly9 has nothing to do with google earth. My guess is apple will lame this up like they did with coverflow when they bought THAT from a third party. So this will basically be a coverflow for managing your websites. A glorified bookmark manager masquerading as a globe. Magical. Revolutionary. Fail.
@huzzlehoff iMaps of course in the making... That cuts the umbilical cord for Apple from Google for iPhone.
@Upwad0n, they are probably going to use it to track their users. I'm sure the iTrack will be a success.
@SeeKo Seriously? This happens all the time.
@huzzlehoff
Too bad google :) soon what google does well, will be done better.
@SeeKo this is stupid. the people who didn't move chose to not move, so they prolly had some kind of separation scheme in place. jumping to conclusions is not healthy. it's the same in almost every corporate acquisition. when you think about it, these people got it good. most corporate acquisitions these days involve more layoffs than paid relocation offers.
@keyrol
I don't mind relocating for a job. That's the way it works nowadays. But moving to another country is an entirely different story. Just saying.
@huzzlehoff
Yeah.. to the fanboys is steve says they did they would believe it. Right now Apple is arrogant and is moving ahead. Pretty they want to rid themselves of the Google dependency for Maps. What they NEED to do is spend that money to clean up the iphone PR nightmare.
@misjah
I highly doubt
@rutter9 Absolutely. Of course Google Has no interest whatsoever in selling your eyeballs to sellers of Extenze. No siree. Just keep looking past that.....Nothing to see there folks. Google Is Good (now, chant that every morning)
@dogma at least google didnt sell us a phone , that gets poor reception, and cant make a cal when you hold it normally. then claim its antenna is revolutionary. and that your just *holding it wrong*
nope, im happy with my droid being overclocked to 1.3 ghz (thats over 2x its default clock) with no ads anywhere to be seen, free navigation, free apps, and i can sue it as a webcam.
@Revolutionary No I don't like ads. But compare Andorid to the iOS...not much of a comparison. Apple does *MOST* things better. Granted I still love Chrome, Gmail, Google Earth etc. I just realize that Apple tries a little harder in most instances. Anyways, if you look at Google Earth on your iPhone now...there are ads already. Google is making a buck on Apple's back. Apple knows this and isn't going to take it lying down. Duh. It makes sense. I use a Blackberry and Dell btw, so definitely not a fanboy.
@nicholas1987ucsb
and apple makes bank off of having youtube gmail and google maps
Google should yank Apples access if they start to play hard ball.
@nicholas1987ucsb
iod does Nothing that android can do but android multitasks, notifications, and more better
@DefPoet
I am sure MS will be in the wing waiting for that to happen, to get default status. Google could never do such a thing ;)
@dave95
could be, but mobile bing maps are not nearly as good as their full venison. Hotmail app on the iphone would be weird as hell but used alot since hotmail is th second largest email provider no answer for youtube though
@huzzlehoff That would actually be Palm.
@huzzlehoff WOW WOW hold up there engadget? what happened to la la? they could be accquiring it to destroy it like they seemed to have done with la la
@huzzlehoff Wait... this was a dual attempt at humor and a jab at Apple right? Forgive me, some times trollanese is a bit rusty.
@misjah Nothing Apple ever did was "better" than anyone else.
@DefPoet If they yank access they'll just be cutting off their own feet before Apple does.
Apple would have to buy Vimeo to compete with YouTube, which is a long ways out of Apple's business model.
iOS vs Android isn't just about having more bullet points and features.
My bosses 1 year old daughter can use an iPhone, can you say that about Android (definitely not).
Apple's value comes by making things for end-users not engineers. They make incredibly dumb-proof interfaces.
@huzzlehoff
*iEarth*
@nicholas1987ucsb
Troll ? It takes one to know one iDiot.
@DefPoet
I already use Hotmail on the iPhone natively (through POP account). It's not the best but it's already available. And remember Youtube is transitioning to open standards. They just recently launched a new mobile site that some are saying is better than their YouTube App. Point is Google's hand is not a strong as it once was on the iPhone. This recent purchase proves that Apple is fighting back.
@rutter9
So the hateraide puts blinders up to the actions of either company? When Google competes with Apple everyone's happy and when Apple decides to compete back (or in this place cut them out) everyone gets mad.
Admit that it's nice to see a large company like Apple buy these guys and develop it into something more. Just like LaLa, we'll all have to see what the future holds before we know how good this will turn out.
Google can not continue to be the only map, search and mobile ad provider on the internet. It's not healthy.
@SeeKo I'm sure they got a pretty nice severance package.. don't you worry.
@tmax76
took the words right outta my mouth. apple is not about to let a competing company in the smartphone space have a standard app on its phone.
@SeeKo
Yeah those Canadians are sure in for a culture shock!
@rutter9 Oh NO! Apple wants to make... money?!?! Heaven forbid!!
@SeeKo that's what happens when companies are sold and/or close an office.
Apple Paid for them to move to the new location. If they did not want to move, I'm sure there was some sort of severance package.
@Revolutionary Or how the stock is up $2.40 already today nearly recovering half the loses yesterday?
Troll on somewhere else.
@dave95
Google has said that YouTube will remain mostly flash for the foreseeable future. Apple does not support webm. And the high quality videos available on the mobile site are the same quality videos the YouTube HQ app on Android uses.
@nicholas1987ucsb
Your UI point is moot. Android is just as easy to use. Every Android phone cane have pages of app icons. iOS is not that unique. Touchwiz on the galaxy series of phones is a exact mirror of it
@SeeKo That's also relocating, FYI.
@huzzlehoff ...iDirt....
@huskie fluff
but no Voice and simultaneous Data :)
@dagetz Don't be so stupid. Apple bought LaLa for iTunes.com. DUH. Rub your two brain cells together and see what happens.
@fourthletter Too bad I don't actually own/endorse/use or benefit from any Apple product at the moment other than an Airport.
I just call them like I see them. Idiot.