Apple Patents Reveal Plans for Mobile Social Networking App

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Apple Patents Reveal Plans for Mobile Social Networking App
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The application, known as iGroups, is designed to let people meet up and exchange information in a way that is focused on ensuring privacy.

The USPTO documents are pretty detailed in terms of how the application -- and the related patents -- work. The big takeaway seems to be that group controls are granular and that location uses something called "virtual GPS" -- which appears to be using either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi as proximity tools.

A side note -- there is an existing iPhone app called iGroups, which means that if this app does come to the marketplace, Apple might have to work with the developer to resolve the name issue.

What do you think of Apple's push into social networking? Let us know!

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