Apple Acquires Coherent Navigation, a GPS Start-Up.
Apple Inc. To that end, Apple confirmed on Sunday that it had purchased Coherent Navigation, a Bay Area global positioning company, further bolstering Apple’s location technology and services.
AAPL, -0.14% has acquired a Global Positioning System company called Coherent Navigation Inc., with the startup firm’s executives joining Apple’s maps team. Founded in 2008, Coherent Navigation was a small firm that focused on creating commercial navigation services based on partnerships with companies like Boeing and Iridium, the satellite network operator, according to a description on the LinkedIn page of Paul Lego, the company’s former chief executive. Coherent Navigation worked on high-precision navigation systems, technology that is far stronger than many consumer-grade global positioning systems, which are typically accurate to within three to five meters.
Three other employees, including the startup’s chief technical officer, are still listed as Coherent Employees, but the company’s own LinkedIn page notes that it has “ceased operations at this time,” and its website is offline. Over the past few years, Maps has gained in competency and has become a well-rounded navigation solution, although one that isn’t quite as robust as perennial favorite Google Maps. In the past, Coherent Navigation has also worked on autonomous navigation and robotics projects, according to previous company job listings, as well as projects for the Defense Department. Coherent had fewer than 10 employees, according to LinkedIn, so the likely explanation for these profile changes is that Apple acquired the company in order to scoop up its talent and, perhaps, some of its intellectual property.
It is unclear exactly how Apple will use the company’s services or technology, or if the company will incorporate its prior work into Apple’s current products. There’s no indication of what Apple might be using these people or their technology for, although increasing the speed and reliability with which iPhones can get a GPS signal would be an obvious application. Competition for location-based services has been intensifying, as some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies vie for more control over such technologies.
More recently, a coalition of German automakers has been competing with Uber to acquire Nokia Here, the digital mapping arm of Nokia, the Finnish technology company. If Uber is successful, the move will help lessen its reliance on Google’s mapping service, which currently underlies a significant part of Uber’s navigation technology.