Sam Oliver
Apple may bolster its iOS Maps application by acquiring popular crowd-sourced traffic and navigation service Waze, according to a new rumor.
Apple is said to be "sniffing around Waze" for a potential acquisition, according to a report from TechCrunch published on Wednesday. Both companies declined to comment, but a similar rumor also cropped up from an Israeli website.
Waze (Free, App Store) was one of the alternative mapping applications recommended by Apple in September after customers complained that the new Maps application in iOS 6 was not up to par. Apple replaced Google Maps data with its own proprietary solution with the launch of its latest mobile operating system.
A free application for iOS, Waze is pitched by the company as a "fun, community-based traffic & navigation app." It claims that more than 30 million people are using the service.
With Waze, users can share real-time information on traffic congestion, gas prices, accidents, speed traps and checkpoints, and more. Some data is automatically reported by simply having the iPhone application open while driving.
Apple has acquired prominent iOS application developers before to bolster its mobile platform. Most significantly, the company purchased Siri, a voice-driven personal assistant application, for about $200 million in 2010. The technology eventually became integrated into iOS with the launch of iOS 5.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
24 Comments
That would be AMAZING and AWESOME! It's the best navigation app out there. Does the trick. Social aspect is fantastic. Highly recommend this rumor to a hopeful TRUE!
Wow, a bit of news today I could actually see happening.
I'm wondering if that would be enough to bring his brother (I think) to assert WAZE ownership claims too. IIRC there was also a background story from a few years ago that indicated a falling out over the way the data gathered from WAZE users was shared with the map provider, OSM. At least that's what I remember. I'll see if I can find the old story
I'd prefer Apple actually not mess with Waze at all...it's independence is part of its success.
Err, Waze is already a provider for Apple Map underlying data. What would be the point ? Apple buys companies to shut them down and integrate its products and data into their own. Waze value is in its app being deployed and used by its users, being a social mapping app. If Apple shuts Waze down, even if it integrate parts of the functionality in its native app, Apple will never provide a deeply social application and hence, this would have zero added value for Apple, just a big waste and a huge gain for current Waze investors.