Apple buys Poly9, makers of Google Earth-like Poly9 Globe

Two years ago, we were not impressed with Poly9's 3D globe software, similar to Google Earth. This week, Apple begs to differ with us, deciding that Poly9 was far enough along that it's worth acquiring. To be fair, two years is an eternity in software time, and the current Poly9 Globe is a lot cooler than Poly9 FreeEarth, the app we called, "like Google Earth, but Flash-based and slower."

Of course, back then, we thought Flash-based was a good thing. Apple famously disagrees with that, so it's a good thing that today's Poly9 Globe is all JavaScript. The Poly9 Globe site has stopped working following the Apple acquisition, but there are a lot of other sites built on it, including ConduitLive and Skype Nomad.

Apple's earlier grab of Google Maps competitor Placebase, together with the Poly9 deal, suggests that Apple is going to launch one of heck of a map service at some point. Whether it will be a full-on war with Google's existing products or something new and innovative remains to be seen.

[via AppleInsider]

Tags: apple, google earth, GoogleEarth, maps, poly9, poly9 globe, Poly9Globe