Indoor navigation is a major challenge facing technology companies around the world. The goal is to help people find their way around big buildings, such as shopping malls, hospitals, and airports.
Tech giants Google, Microsoft and Apple offer various solutions to the problem, but they are based on hardware components that must be physically installed in the buildings. Israeli startup ShopCloud announced a pilot of their new app “Inside” this week, which offers a creative solution to the problem.
ShopCloud’s technology does not require installing any hardware components in the shopping mall, or the smartphone, which is what sets it apart from the competition. “Google offers location recognition at a six meter resolution,” ShopCloud co-founder and CEO Gil Devora told “Globes,” “they require WiFi, and their technology only works on Android devices. We have accuracy up to a single meter, and we can offer navigation within the store as well.”
Co-founder and VP Product Michael Bar Zeev explains how the product works: “We map static points of interest in the places in which we work. The smartphone camera identifies the user’s location very quickly, without the user having to do anything actively.” Bar Zeev would not disclose further details regarding the technology, but said that it gathers information passively about the user, and identifies the structure the user is in using GPS.
ShopCloud received permission to map and operate within most major malls in Israel, among them the Ayalon Mall, Melisron Ltd. (TASE: MLSR) malls, and Big Shopping Centers (2004) Ltd. (TASE:BIG).
The company will also map and operate in other large facilities, such as the Nokia Basketball Arena, Bloomfield Soccer Stadium, Tel Hashomer Hospital, the Sharona Complex, the Tel Aviv Municipality building, and other major municipal structures.
ShopCloud is also in contact with three major shopping mall chains in the US. ShopCloud was founded in 2012 to find a solution for indoor navigation. “We saw that there is no solution that is simple and cheap to implement. We looked at dozens of companies, and we did not find a good product on the market,” says Bar Zeev. Shop Cloud has 15 employees, and the company raised $2 million from outgoing IKEA Israel CEO Shlomi Gabay, and Jeremy Moon. “Right now, we are not focusing on the product’s business model,” says Devora, “It will take time before we start offering advertising within the app.”
Inside is expected to launch a beta version of the app for iOS and Android at the end of the month. The formal launch will be in early May.
ShopCloud is entering a crowded market. Just two months ago, Apple began installing iBeacon technology in its stores, which requires placing small transmitters throughout the store.
This technology helps the shopper navigate to the product he or she is looking for, and also sends messages about discounts on products as the shopper passes them in the store. In the future, the technology will also support checkout.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 5, 2014
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