In a year when the giants decided to buy small businesses for billion dollar Apple that made Dr Dre a billionaire man or even Zuckerberg who decided to spend “only” a few billion to get Whatsapp and, when everything seemed to be calmer, Google decides to focus on Skybox Imaging, a small company that provides high resolution satellite imagery.
Last month rumors had surfaced that Google was negotiating the acquisition of Skybox, but there was still talk of pricing. But today there are rumors that 1 billion USD will be the amount to be disbursed by Google to become Skybox holder, that is, another billion dollar purchase alongside its most beloved rivals.
In recent months, Google and Facebook have shown interest in companies that use satellites as their main resource. As a proof of this, first comes Google that acquired the Titan Aerospace in April to help expand Internet access in new regions.
If we analyze, this possible acquisition makes perfect sense since Google has services that use images captured by satellite, the most famous of which is the Google Maps and improving the quality of this product is vital since Microsoft has a strong competitor, Bing Maps.
Skybox was founded in 2009, it provides real-time images and videos for companies make decisions based on very specific data, that is, images or videos. For example: one can use Skybox to get a clearer notion of consumer demand based on the number of cars in a parking lot. Watch the demonstration of the service in operation:
Source: Mashable
