Motorola taps Skyhook for location services

Skyhook Wireless announced that Motorola will deploy its location positioning and context solutions across the vendor's portfolio of Google Android smartphones.

According to the agreement, Motorola will integrate Skyhook's Core Location technology directly into its Android platform, leveraging the firm's combination of GPS, WiFi and cellular services to pinpoint user whereabouts across a series of location-aware applications. According to Skyhook, Motorola is the first Android device maker to swap out Google's native location services in favor of a rival solution.

By most accounts, Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System is significantly more reliable than Google's technology, which also includes WiFi signaling information. Glenn Fleishmann and Wi-Fi Networking News wonders why Google never bought Skyhook in the first place.