“According to the documents published by USPTO today, Apple’s iGroup will be a new service that will work on your iPhone and likely work with MobileMe,” Purcher reports. “The idea is to allow groups of friends or colleagues attending such events as a concert, a tradeshow, business meeting, wedding or rally to stay in communication with each other as a group to share information or reactions to live events as they’re occurring.”
“The technology behind the new iGroup social networking applications works with a very sophisticated cryptographic key generation system to ensure security and privacy of your communications,” Purcher reports. “Interestingly, the patent states that if one of the devices in your group happens to be without true positioning technology, it appears that Apple’s MobileMe service will provide some sort of ‘virtual GPS’ capability to that user so that they could be aware of the locations of others in the group.”
Purcher reports, “Apple’s patent provides us with example scenarios of both a concert and WWDC event to clarify the service. This marks Apple’s fourth social networking application made public since the start of 2010 – which clearly indicates that Apple now has this hot new sector in its crosshairs.”
Much more in the full article, including patent application illustrations, here.
Holy crap—I should’ve known that Apple’s innovation never pauses…
Apple finally thinking about social networking after removing iCards, Communities, underdeveloping iChat, omitting iPad webcams, omitting iPhone and iPod Touch webcams, not having an MSN-comparable information-based homepage, zero installed games on new Macs, zero fun Apple software, etc.? Finally learning their lesson I hope!
what, chess isn’t a game?
@imaki
Grapher is kind of fun.
iMaki:
Go Kaki, you little useless master baiter
Apple is the world’s best software company BAR NONE.
It’s easy to forget this when Apple’s hardware is also unbeatable in design, quality, longevity, elegance and durability.
The icing on the cake is that Apple has done what no one else has even come close to:
Integrate the two seamlessly and unequivocally.
That makes for an unbeatable and transparent user experience that is impossible to just beat without all the years of successful development and experience that Apple enjoys
Let’s hope the dumbass teabaggers don’t figure out how to use it.
@neomonkey
Sounds like you need some “coffee”…
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iGroups… again with the ” i “!!!
Apple changed their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. They need to revise it just a little and change it from Apple to Ipple (start it with an ” i “)!
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The illustration for the iGroup app is adorable.
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Isn’t Ipple in Michigan?
I could then see Apple making an alcoholic beverage (t-ipple),
but the ice-cream’s been done (r-ipple);
I’ll leave the other two obvious ones so as not to offend.
iMaki
Preech it brotha!!
Later Apple is going to introduce ‘iGropes’, which is for after you meet someone using iGroups.
I can’t wait for this app. I’ll use it to find my wife when we get separated in Costco. LOL!
And what the hell does this software have to do with any patent?
Goddamn I hate software patents.
Wow. Private? Encrypted? Secure? A trifecta! Terrorists are gonna LOVE this.
Brau wrote: “Wow. Private? Encrypted? Secure? A trifecta! Terrorists are gonna LOVE this.”
Brau:
Betcha ten bucks the NSA is monitoring you right now.