Amazon further commits to mobile, purchases 3D mapping company UpNext
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UpNext provides app for Android and iOS that supplies detailed 3D maps that cover 50 U.S. cities, with “enhanced details” for nearly half of them. UpNext has also partnered with the NFL to provide Super Bowl guides that include 3D maps of the football stadiums and surrounding areas for fans to use. Amazon is reported to have offered UpNext’s stake holders a five-fold return on their investment to buy them out, and the deal will include moving the UpNext team to Seattle to head up Amazon’s core mapping efforts.
Presumably we will see the results of this purchase on future Kindle Fire tablets, but given the importance of mapping software to phones we think this strengthens the likelihood that we’ll see an Amazon phone in the not-so-distant-future. To get a feel for what their mapping solution may look like, you can watch the demo video for UpNext’s current apps below.
source: GigaOm via The Verge
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5 Comments
2. cornerofthemoon posted on 02 Jul 2012, 16:21 1 1
Hmmm, Amazon should buy Blackberry and get BB10 out the door. Especially since Google has declared war on the Android front with the Nexus tablet.
4. snowgator posted on 02 Jul 2012, 16:26 0 0
THAT would make sense, especially if this time next year BB10 is delayed again or a flop out of the gate, making RIM even weaker or outright helpless. With BBM, their secure systems, and a focused/deep pocketed owner with Amazon's resources, that might make for a very strong marriage.
Boy, Amazon would be a monster if they got a serious Mobile presence.
3. snowgator posted on 02 Jul 2012, 16:22 0 0
Wonder what they would actually bring to the world of Mobile Phones. I love them in Tablets- with their E-Readers and built in audience with Amazon's HUGE book and online catalog of magazines, it is a natural. But Mobile Phones is a whole different type of predator. It eats it's own young. Microsoft, even with it's deep pockets and years and years of mobile experience, is fighting to get WP on the map, RIM is fighting to stay revelant, not to mention Samsung (Bada) and HP/Palm (WebOS) outright failed, does E-reader and 1 cheap tablet success mean Amazon has a chance?
With Barnes and Noble teaming up with Microsoft to attack Apple in the classroom (electronic textbooks over tablets) and get a better foothold in the E-reader biz, maybe Amazon should stick to what has propelled them to #1 before #2 turns this thing back to a race.....
5. Orbitman posted on 02 Jul 2012, 18:47 1 0
they could even just use a super-skinned version of android like they did with the kindle fire
