Intel grabs Telmap for cross-platform AppUp location services

Intel has acquired navigation and location-based software specialist Telmap, and will use the company's technology for cross-platform local services in its AppUp system. Eventually, Intel is planning to offer developers coding for AppUp a set of standardized location-based services (LBS) APIs, with which they'll be able to integrate potentially complex mapping, local search and other content into their apps with the addition of "just a few lines of code."

Telmap currently provides a mixture of white-label and branded LBS apps for a range of platforms, including Android and BlackBerry. However, rather than sell direct to consumers through app stores, the company has deals with carriers such as AT&T – which offers Telmap Navigator – to offer subscription-based access to the various services.

Intel says that its goals for Telmap will span "devices, operating systems and CPU architectures" which presumably means anything from Core i3, i5 and i7 based notebooks through ultrabooks and Atom-powered netbooks and tablets, all the way to the company's mobile-centric range of Moorestown chips for smartphones. Intel is also readying an x86 build of Android for its processors, and of course the company is heavily involved in the freshly-announced Tizen OS, building on MeeGo.