Mobile, wireless, location based services

Qualcomm Adopts Skyhook Technology

Wade Roush 11/17/08

San Diego-based Qualcomm, which is famous for its CDMA wireless communications chips but is also a leading maker of GPS chips for cell phones and other devices, has signed a deal with Boston’s Skyhook Wireless that will move it toward hybrid location-finding technologies.

Qualcomm will incorporate Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Positioning System—a software system that determines a device’s location based on the identities of nearby Wi-Fi networks—into its gpsOne line of Assisted GPS chips, Skyhook announced today.

“Combining Skyhook’s technology with our gpsOne offering will enable users to obtain location fixes much more rapidly and provide for a more ubiquitous [location-based services] experience whether indoors, outside or in complex environments such as urban areas,” Jason Bremner, senior director of cellular products for Qualcomm, said in a statement.

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at (617) 252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wroush.