Skyhook Levies a Law Suit Against Google Over Handling of Motorola Deal
Kevin Krause
Before there was the Bing fiasco with the Samsung Fascinate on Verizon there was the misinterpreted deal Motorola struck with Skyhook. Many thought it would spell out the end of Google Maps on Moto handsets, but here we sit a few months later and that isn’t the case, and it looks like a lot of that had to do with Google. Skyhook is the developer of a technology called XPS that allows for quick mobile location using a combination of GPS, WiFi, and cellular data, a service Moto wanted to use to improve the GPS awareness of their Android products.
Turns out Google still wanted their location technology in Moto’s handsets as well, and while they were willing to let both services live peacefully within the depths of Android handsets Google even went as far as to put “stop ship” orders on devices leaving Motorola using only Skyhook. Now Skyhook is claiming that thanks to Google Motorola shipped a device without any of their XPS technology on board, costing the company millions upon millions of dollars in the process. Motorola and Google have yet to comment on the suit.
