Loopt signs licensing deal with Qualcomm
NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Privately held, location-based service provider Loopt signed a technology licensing agreement with Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) that it plans to use to expand its services and win more business with service providers.
Loopt's service uses global positioning technology embedded in cell phones to let consumers automatically broadcast their location to friends or find out the whereabouts of their friends.
Companies including Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L), already offer Loopt's service, which also works on iPhone from Apple Inc (AAPL.O) .
But Loopt Chief Executive Sam Altman said he hoped the integration of its service with No. 1 mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm's technology would give the company additional access to more than a dozen more service providers.
"I would like to see us become partners with every major Qualcomm partner in the world as a result" of the licensing agreement, Altman said in a telephone interview.
The executive also said that using Qualcomm's technology would allow Loopt to help enable services such as the delivery of mobile phone ads that are relevant to a mobile phone user's location as well as Web search services. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
