Apple building a Google Earth alternative?
In what would be another sounding of the bugle in the ongoing war between Apple and Google, Apple has bought Poly9, the company that would complete the jigsaw of Apple’s version of Google Earth and possibly spell not just ‘competition’ but also ‘end’, end of Google Earth on Apple products. Poly9 is a Canadian firm that builds software for browser-based interactive 3D. It joins mapping service, Placebase, that Apple acquired last year, possibly for its own mapping service. Poly9’s Globe project, the Google Earth-like program, points towards the mapping connection. The applet is just 303KB large and runs on multiple platforms. Suits the iPhone and the iPad, doesn’t it? Now what could be the possible name of this service? Apple iMaps is our guess. Write yours in the comments below.
Now that the swords are naked, it is not surprising that Apple is trying to free itself from all Google products. While Apple still can’t squeeze out the mammoth, that is Google Search, from its line-up, the addition of Microsoft’s search engine ‘Bing’ was a clear sign of intent.