Sony Mobile recently announced that it, along with 21 other global technology companies, has formed an alliance called ‘In-Location’ to further develop and promote the deployment of indoor location positioning. This is something that Google has already started working on, but the In-Location Alliance is a separate collaboration. It is formed by a wide variety of companies including chipset vendors, mobile operators, system integrators, handset manufacturers, application developers, solution vendors, and technology vendors.
The main objective of this alliance is to work towards the adoption of indoor positioning solutions and technologies through open interfaces and standards. The system will primarily be based on enhanced Bluetooth low-energy and Wi-Fi standards. For the average consumer, the concept means that you could get directions to personalised product promotions in store or real-time navigation in a public place. It seems a natural extension to the external mapping services already widely available.
