Skyhook Wireless, the location-services company that has been embroiled in lawsuits with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) over patent infringement and restraint of trade, has added another customer to its platform that gives it one more route to working on Google’s Android devices anyway: it is announcing today a partnership with Symantec-owned…

The messy disconnect between modern technology and traditional notions of privacy is going to have to be resolved before the only winners in the debate over location-based services on mobile devices become members of the media hyperventilating about spying.

Perhaps it’s a good sign for Microsoft: people are taking Windows Phone 7 seriously enough to demand answers as to Microsoft’s policies for location-tracking on smartphones running its software.

Our look at some of the big stories today in mobile: Two more NFC initiatives in Europe—one in the UK and one in Spain; two reports on some of the bells and whistles that we may see in Apple’s future mobile products; BMW startups up a $100 million fund to…

One of the big selling points for consumers deciding to upgrade their feature-phones to smartphones is “location-based services,” like maps that constantly update themselves as you move. A new study commissioned by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) finds that consumers who are aware of location services are very fond of them, but…

Ask.com’s latest turnaround strategy, in the wake of layoffs and reports of selloffs by parent IAC (NSDQ: IACI), has seen the site return to its roots as a Q&A service. But in the process of doing that, it’s been asking the biggest question of all: is mobile the way forward…

—Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Latitude: Google’s mapping/presence app has finally made its way to Apple’s App Store, after initially getting barred when the service was first launched early in 2009. The app had already been available on Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile smartphones, and has around 9 million users who…

Update: A spokesperson for Navteq has confirmed that the digital mapping division of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has bought Reach Unlimited Corporation, owner of the crowdsourced traffic data app Trapster, for an undisclosed amount. This means that Navteq has also acquired the other two less well-known location-aware apps detailed in the…

Verizon Wireless continued releasing a barrage of press releases today at its developer conference in Las Vegas. As part of the onslaught, Verizon is making Geodelic’s location-based platform available to publishers, who need detailed information about local places, like restaurants and shops. What sets this partnership apart from all of…

Garmin is prepared to leave the smartphone business if the company does not see some light at the end of the tunnel in the next couple of quarters. In the second quarter, smartphone sales totaled $27 million, which missed the company’s expectations, Reuters reports.

One of the biggest limitations to GPS is that it doesn’t work indoors. Your phone might be able to navigate you to the front door of the mall, but finding the store, much less the box of Rice-A-Roni on the shelf—forget about it. That’s the problem that Bellevue, Wash.-based Point…

Sure, location-based services, like Foursquare or Yelp, are interesting, but real estate transactions are the largest and most important purchase you will make while away from your computer, according to Zillow’s COO Spencer Rascoff, who conducted a video interview with Robert Scoble about how the company’s mobile usage is soaring.…

Travel publisher Lonely Planet will on Wednesday embed augmented reality features in to new, Android versions of its mobile city guide apps, overlaying place-of-interest information on pictures seen through travelers’ cellphone cameras.

CloudMade has raised $12.3 million to help build an alternative mapping platform, fueled by a fleet of volunteers using their cellphones. The Menlo Park, CA-based company wants to break the tradition of having to hire drivers, who cover every road in the world in order to get an accurate map.…

For most of HTC’s existence, it was a little-known cellphone manufacturer making more Windows Mobile phones than anyone else in the world. Now the Taiwanese company has ambitions to create its own brand and be recognized as making the best Android smartphones. Turns out, it has just a few ideas…

Forget about earning badges, Loopt is cashing in on the “check in” trend by launching a new rewards program called Loopt Star that gives people incentives to become loyal patrons to participating establishments. Loopt may have been one of the early location-based social networks on the iPhone and other smartphones,…

Although they’ve been working together since 2004, the CEO’s of Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) held a press conference in Times Square to announce the details of a new level for their relationship. The news, which leaked last week, has Yahoo providing Nokia devices with e-mail, search and…

On TeleNav’s opening day on the stock market, its shares were up nearly 30 percent, but the company had to slash its expectations in order to get the deal done. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which is now trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol TNAV, dropped its IPO price to…

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is the third major player to add free turn-by-turn driving directions to its mapping application. The voice-guided driving directions will be available in the Bing application for a dozen or so Windows phones, according to a company blog post. The trend toward offering free navigation has really…