This week at Apple, the company listed two new jobs on its site which indicate an ongoing interest in optimizing location-based services for iOS devices.
“Come work for the team that revolutionized the mobile technology industry as it continues [to] define what computing looks like in a post-PC era,” the listing reads.
“The Maps team is looking for an exceptional developer to join us in our mission to radically improve how people interact with maps and location-based services.”
As expected, the job listing didn’t reveal all that much, except that the iOS Maps Application Developer would work closely with the human interface team to craft “new and innovative features” for iOS devices.
Clearly, Cupertino hopes to amp up its native Maps applications. In 2009 Apple purchased Placebase, a competitor to Google maps, as well as Poly9, an online mapping company from Canada. Poly9 created interactive 3D maps within a browser.
The company also has begun using its own location databases for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad rather than previous versions of iOS which relied on databases from Google and Skyhook Wireless.
Nevertheless, Apple is still dependent on Google for maps and “Street View” content in the native iOS Maps application.
(Via Apple Insider)
