Apple Acquires Indoor Mobile Location Positioning Firm WifiSLAM for $20 Million
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has acquired indoor location company WifiSLAM, paying around $20 million for the firm. Apple has confirmed the purchase, but declined to offer any details on its plans for the acquisition.
The two-year-old startup has developed ways for mobile apps to detect a phone user’s location in a building using Wi-Fi signals. It has been offering the technology to application developers for indoor mapping and new types of retail and social networking apps. The company has a handful of employees, and its co-founders include former Google software engineering intern Joseph Huang.
Apple has been beefing up its location expertise over the past several years through acquisitions, including small firms such as Placebase, Poly9, and C3 Technologies. With its purchase of WifiSLAM, Apple seems to be adding a new focus on indoor location tracking.
The cornerstone of Apple's mapping effort so far has been its Maps app in iOS 6, which replaced Google as the default mapping application on iOS devices. Apple's Maps app has, however, suffered from significant criticism and the company has been working hard to improve its mapping products.
Popular Stories
If you pay for certain iCloud+ storage plans beyond the 5GB that Apple offers for free, you will receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost.
A summary of the two new iCloud+ perks on iOS 27:Increased daily usage limits for some new Apple Intelligence features, including image generation in the revamped Image Playground app.
HomeKit Secure Video cameras receive generated video...
Apple's first product release of summer 2026 occurred this week, but do not get too excited, as it is merely the Beats Solo Buds in a new color.
Beats Solo Buds are now offered in orange through Best Buy in the U.S., with availability set to expand to 7-Eleven stores in Japan on July 4.
Apple already offered orange Solo Buds in India for free with the purchase of an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 ...
Apple supplier Tata Electronics recently suffered a cyberattack that resulted in thousands of confidential files being published on the dark web, and this reportedly included some photos and documents related to the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro.
We have elected not to share any of the leaked photos in this story due to the illegal nature in which they were obtained, but they can easily be found...