New Cost Effective WiFi Location-Positioning Service for Device Manufacturers
SAN BRUNO, CA, August 12, 2010 — Acknowledging the growing need for location-based information and services in a variety of connected devices such as digital cameras, eBooks, gaming devices, notebooks and tablets, Devicescape announced today the availability of its SoftGPS WiFi positioning service. SoftGPS provides device manufacturers an inexpensive way to integrate location-based capabilities into their devices solely through the use of WiFi. Until now, manufacturers had to turn to more expensive technologies which relied on cellular and GPS service.
According to analyst firm Juniper Research, revenues from mobile location-based services are expected to reach more than $12.7 billion by 2014. This market is poised for growth as a result of greater smartphone proliferation, a surge in service enabled devices and the availability of new technologies such as Devicescape’s new SoftGPS.
Location awareness is now commonplace on smartphones and is typically enabled through cellular service or GPS hardware. Unfortunately, most emerging connected devices — such as digital cameras, game players, netbooks and eBooks — cannot accommodate the additional cost of building in this technology and providing ongoing service. These low cost devices use WiFi for communications, yet previous efforts to utilize WiFi for positioning have faced the challenge of how to connect while the devices are mobile.
Devicescape’s SoftGPS solution is targeted specifically towards these types of WiFi only, mass market devices. SoftGPS takes advantage of Devicescape’s Easy WiFi connection technology which gives devices the ability to seamlessly tap into millions of hotspots all over the world to provide the location service. Location awareness is enabled without additional hardware and ongoing communications costs. With a modestly priced one-time fee for lifetime service, SoftGPS is a much less expensive software alternative for manufacturers that want to embed geo-location capabilities and other location aware services into their devices.
“With the explosion of location-based services, device manufacturers have come under pressure to deliver intelligent, location-aware devices that allow consumers to do everything from geo-tagging their photos to downloading localized content,” said Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape. “Our new SoftGPS expands the market for more affordable and exciting location-aware products.”
Free Evaluation of SoftGPS
Manufacturers and application developers who would like to evaluate SoftGPS can visit www.devicescape.com/softgps to download a fully functional demonstration application for Windows PCs or join the evaluation program which allows for integration into other devices. The evaluation is completely free, as is service for personal and non-commercial use.
About Devicescape
Devicescape is a leading provider of WiFi technology for the fast growing market for connected, service-enabled, electronic devices. The company’s Easy WiFi products allow leading device manufacturers and service providers to leverage the power of WiFi to deliver superior products. Easy WiFi has been deployed on hundreds of millions of shipped products, including notebook PCs, handsets, consumer, office, and industrial electronics.
Headquartered in San Bruno, California, the company is privately held and backed by leading venture capital companies including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, August Capital, Enterprise Partners, and Jafco. To learn more, please visit www.devicescape.com.
Devicescape is a trademark of Devicescape Software, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.