Maps-related services have been one of Apple?s few weak points in the mobile space. However, a couple of recent developments suggest the company may be looking to turnaround its maps strategy.

Apple recently acquired indoor GPS company WiFi Slam for a reported $20 million, potentially opening up opportunities for Apple to enhance its maps services and generate revenue from location-based advertising. However, it seems unlikely that Apple will be able to match Google scale when it comes to maps.

?Despite a poor reception for its mapping app, we always believed Apple and TomTom would ultimately sort out the location assets, and the WiFi Slam acquisition is a step in that direction,? said David MacQueen, London-based director of wireless media strategies for Strategy Analytics.

?Indoor location increases the granularity and value provided by map services,? he said. ?Siri capabilities for voice search combined with location information position Apple as a serious contender in search space.

?Apple's location and search ambitions may end up limited since Apple can only really advertise to Apple customers - Google's scale may still win over Apple's limited but high value clientele.?

A rare misstep
When Apple introduced Apple Maps last year, it was a rare and significant misstep for the company, with customers quickly expressing their dissatisfaction with the product. The outcry was significant enough that Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized to customers.

Research from RealityMine highlighted the significance of Apple?s maps problem by revealing that more than half of iOS 6 users were using Google Maps either exclusively or some of the time over Apple Maps as of November of last year.

Since maps are a popular feature on smartphones, Apple?s relationship with customers is weakened if most are choosing to not use Apple?s map function.

Google Maps.

The WiFi Slam acquisition could help Apple enhance its maps offering by giving it a way to leverage Wi-Fi to let mobile apps know a user?s location inside a building.

As users engage with maps more and more, navigating the inside of buildings is one of the ways that maps on mobile devices are evolving. For example, a growing number of retailers are offering in-store maps in their mobile apps so that shoppers can easily find their way around the store.

Generating revenues from the indoor location-based services opportunity will largely come through location based advertising and search, per Mr. MacQueen.

High-quality experiences
The news of the WiFi Slam acquisition follows Apple being granted a patent for a new augmented reality system that also has a potential uses in mapping.

The system is meant to build 3D representations of the real world, enabling users to view both a live scene and, in another window, an augmented reality version of that scene. The content can be sent to another device, with the recipient able to follow directions in the augmented reality version from his or her location to the sender?s location.

Taken together, these two developments suggest that Apple may be looking to build high-quality mapping capabilities that will enhance the user experience.

For example, mapping could be used to enhance mobile wallet services such as Apple?s Passbook app, especially as shoppers increasingly use smartphones in-store for price comparisons and product reviews.

?WiFiSlam is making baby-steps along the route to mapping the indoor commerce experience with the ability to locate a user fairly precisely indoors, an arena where Google has also made significant progress,? said Alistair Goodman, CEO of Placecast.

?Putting the two together, you can know the position of a user independent of whether they are using the camera, then create an augmented reality experience that combines precise information on where a user is in the store with data on what they are looking at or might be interested in,? he said. ?For example, a real-time offer on the phone based on a scan of an item on a shelf, or reviews of a restaurant overlaid on the screen when the camera is pointed at it.

?From shopping to social interactions to search and discovery, location-related services are turning the phone into an indispensible device for navigating the physical world.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York