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Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Skyhook hooks up with Intel, CitySearch while Google suit simmers
By Rodney Brown
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Skyhook Wireless Inc. chose the Mobile World Congress 2011 show in Barcelona, Spain, to announce a pair of new partnerships that it says will help it keep moving forward while it works through its public legal fight with Google Inc.
The first of the two deals has Intel Corp. striking a license and distribution deal to put Boston-based Skyhook’s Core Engine hybrid location platform into the development stack for anyone creating mobile applications through Intel’s AppUp developer program to be sold in the Intel AppUp center. According to Ted Morgan, CEO of Skyhook, that makes the Core Engine a part of every app developed in AppUp - even if it doesn’t take advantage of location-based services.
“It’s embedded in all the AppUp stuff and everything they are selling onto the netbooks,” Morgans said. “It’s just part of the stack.”
That Core Engine is Skyhook’s software-based location system, which establishes precise device location by using data from wi-fi access points, GPS satellites and cell towers using advanced hybrid positioning algorithms. Working with Intel will enable the Skyhook system to be available for app developers creating applications for Windows and MeeGo-based devices, officials said.
The second deal is with online guide Citysearch, which has integrated Skyhook’s Location Engine into its “Mobile by Citysearch” app for Android, as well as the new “Deals by Citysearch” app for Android the California company is launching today at MWC 2011. According to Morgan, that is one way to get on Android-based phones wil it is in a legal tussle with Google.
“That’s another part of our plans for 2011 while we have this situation with Google where we are not allowed to ship on Android devices we have been approved to ship on,” he said, referencing a deal with Motorola for Android phones that has been affected by Skyhook’s suits against Google. “We are going to get on devices any way we can.”
In September, Skyhook sued the Calif.-based search giant for infringement of patents related to wi-fi use in determining a cell phone’s location, and for business interference for using that technology.The suit filed in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, said that Google is infringing Skyhook’s United States Patent No. 7,414,988, “Server for Updating Location Beacon Database” by maintaining a server Google calls its “WiFi location database.” Skyhook is also suing for infringement of three other patents related to wi-fi location technology and services. Skyhook asked the court to enjoin Google from continuing to operate its wi-fi-based location services and for unspecified damages for “willfully” engaging in the infringement, according to the suit.
In a second complaint, Skyhook alleged that Google used its relationships with handset manufacturers to muscle Skyhook’s GPS software out of the market. Google and Skyhook had been partners in the location-based services, with the companies signing a deal in April, 2010, for Google’s Android operating system to use software made by Skyhook to pinpoint users for location-based apps on the Droid line of phones made by Motorola Inc. According to Skyhook’s suit, Google subsequently put pressure on Motorola preventing Motorola from shipping Android wireless devices featuring Skyhook’s XPS client software.
Skyhook isn’t finished with Mobile World Congress 2011 yet, according to Morgan. “We have another app we will be announcing on the Android side of things, and then in a couple of weeks we will have another major device announcement,” he said.
Last month, Skyhook took one of its first steps around Google, announcing a deal with Priceline.com, which is using Skyhook’s geolocation technology in its “Hotel Negotiator” app for the Android phone. Aimed at business travelers, Hotel Negotiator finds and compares hotel room deals nearby the user’s current location. Getting on Android devices without having to go through Google, or getting on mobile devices based other operating systems like Windows Phone 7 or Meego, is all part of the plan, Morgan said.
“This is a part of our strategy for a while we sort out the unpleasantness with Google,” he said.
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