iPhone 6 leaks: Your friends will know even if you visit washroom!

Apple Inc. is on a roll with ‘leaks’ and rumours about the upcoming iPhone 6, with new details emerging on its various patents about the anti-crash mechanism, ak.a. parachute, the ultimate touchscreen and its production and acquisitions almost on a daily basis.

The timing of these rumours – just before the all-new Samsung Galaxy s4 hits shelves – could well lead to some fence-sitters continuing to squat where they are and wait for the next iPhone iteration to decide which smartphone to go for.

But here’s another one in the same light - Apple has reportedly just bought an indoor GPS company, WiFiSlam for a supposed sum of $20 million in a bid to improve its Maps offering, which are said to be riddled with glitches to the extent that it prompted cops in Australia to say that the iMaps is in fact life-threatening.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has acquired indoor-GPS company WifiSLAM, a sign that the war over indoor mobile location services is heating up.

WiFiSlam was a project listed on AngelList, a platform for start-ups, and according to data from CrunchBase, required funding to the tune of $20 million. The WSJ report claims that Apple paid the entire amount of $20 million for the Silicon Valley-based company.

In comments to WSJ, Apple confirmed the buyout but did not offer details on the pricing of the deal.

The company thus describes its product on AngelList: “Allow your smartphone to pinpoint its location (and the location of your friends) in real-time to 2.5m accuracy using only ambient WiFi signals that are already present in buildings.”

In effect, an app in iPhone 6 could well help your friends track your movements down to the last couple of metres. For all practical purposes, your friends will be able to tell which part of the café you’re in even if you’re in – including the washroom (provided the washroom is at least 2.5m long).

Watch a YouTube video by GeoMeetup that describes what this product does:

The video is by Joseph Huang from WiFiSLAM, who presented the concept technology at the GeoMeetup (August 23, 2012) about Indoor location.

Emirates 24|7 found out that WiFiSlam’s website (wifislam.com) has now been taken off the public domain although the website’s Google cache dated March 17, 2013, remains available, suggesting that it was taken off very recently, most probably after the Apple takeover.

Google Maps is the big daddy in the Maps domain, and Apple did kind of sever ties with it with its iPhone 5 launch last year, when it replaced the Google Maps on its smartphone with its own iMaps app. It did come in for a fair bit of criticism for trying to mend something that wasn’t broken, but with this latest acquisition, it seems that Apple is serious about the maps business.

For the record, Google already offers indoor mapping in some public locations like malls, airports, and stadiums, where it thinks users might need it the most – and it won’t be sued for transgressing our privacy.

If Apple enables the indoor GPS locational service in the iPhone 6, we’re sure that while there will still be concerns about privacy, they might not be as pronounced as, say, Google StreetView which is a public service. In the case of an iPhone, at least we’ll be able to decide if we want our friends and family to know where exactly we are.

ALSO READ:

iPhone 6: Production of ‘pencil-enabled’ touchscreen starts?

BlackBerry Z10 sales & prices are sinking: Blame Samsung Galaxy S4

iPhone 6 specs: 3D calls, see-thru screen you can write on with a pencil…features to kill Galaxy S4?

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.