Apple’s recent purchase of Wi-Fi Slam, a startup company with indoor navigation tools, to compete with Google Maps indoor navigation tools that have already been included in their Google Maps, kicks off a battle for indoor tracking that will revolutionize how products and services are pushed and how tracking the whereabouts of people is done, in real time.

Effort. Focus. Intensity. All three define a new game plan for increasing market share.  Have you ever wondered what direction technological advances would take you? What about having your whereabouts tracked indoors? Can you imagine smart technologies with the ability to track you within eight feet of any product down a grocery row, in a mall and beyond while  pushing you to buy something, all at the same time?  Providing smart technology that functions indoors have been, up until now, taboo. This is what technology giants Apple and Google hope to change. Their goal is to provide indoor technology that will drive customers to buy and for you to find family, friends and colleagues in real time. But not only that, indoor location technology has driven the making of a technology consortium created to compete with Apple and Google.

Nokia, Samsung, Sony mobile are joined by Broadcom, CSR, Dialog Semiconductor, Eptisa, Geomobile, Genasys, Indra, Insiteo, Nomadic Solutions, Nordic Semiconductor, Nordic Technology Group, NowOn, Primax Electronics, Qualcomm, RapidBlue Solutions, Seolane Innovation, TamperSeal AB, Team Action Zone and Visioglobe, creating an In Location Alliance. They are also making a run to pinpoint your location indoors, any time and in real time with an agreement to pilot the technology in their own products.

What makes indoor location technology so powerful is that where traditional GPS tracking has not worked, it does. It can be deployed in smart phones and uses WiFi networks and Bluetooth’s devices needing far fewer capacities to run than traditional GPS systems. Threshold for connectivity is less complex and where GPS signals are lost because of the structure of buildings, etc., indoor location technology capitalizes on this. Buildings, shopping malls, airports, grocery stores, and convention centers would all benefit. Such technology would allow you to find not only goods and services, but people as well- friends, family, colleagues. It permits seamless navigation indoors while experiencing a dramatic push in the marketplace offering you deals for products and services in real time.

The need for communities to be wired has never been more an imperative. It has become a way of life in all communities. An investment in maximizing technologies is well worth it. Whether it is a priority or not, the divide of the haves and have nots will be further defined by the technologies it has equipped itself to take advantage of.

So what is the fallout around privacy issues. When does this technology shut down to allow for personal time, allowing for decision making without feeling imposed upon? Such issues are soon to be addressed. Limits must be established. Tracking you home and then in your home, pinging off of TV ads that have been wired to connect with your smart phone whether on your dresser on on in your purse, the need for policing of this technology to avoid intrusion that violates privacy will need vetting and attending to like none other.

ser or on your hip… all must have technology free zones imposed by more than just a self policing of the technology industry.