Apple is looking to acquiring Waze to bolster its Maps offering on iOS, reports TechCrunch. Waze is a community-based traffic & navigation app with 30 million users that features real-time traffic & road information.
TechCrunch believes that an acquisition of Waze would be more beneficial to Apple than the previously rumored acquisition of Foursquare.
Waze’s international use has been growing because it is genuinely useful, especially in places where Maps remain a problem, such as in Asia and the Middle East. Because Waze maps are built on the location of moving cars, it’s far more accurate than check-in apps. Outside of Google’s project to map cities with Streetview cars – something which has taken years to complete – and the real-world mapping undertaken by volunteers on the Open Streetmaps open source project, there has been little to match Waze’s approach. Waze turned mapping into not only a game, but also a way for drivers to be social, reporting road obstacles, traffic and police traps. It is properly useful.
Newsgeek, an Israeli news site, is also reporting rumors of acquisition talks and has heard that Apple placed an initial half billion dollar offer on the table.
You can download Waze from the App Store for free.
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TechCrunch believes that an acquisition of Waze would be more beneficial to Apple than the previously rumored acquisition of Foursquare.
Waze’s international use has been growing because it is genuinely useful, especially in places where Maps remain a problem, such as in Asia and the Middle East. Because Waze maps are built on the location of moving cars, it’s far more accurate than check-in apps. Outside of Google’s project to map cities with Streetview cars – something which has taken years to complete – and the real-world mapping undertaken by volunteers on the Open Streetmaps open source project, there has been little to match Waze’s approach. Waze turned mapping into not only a game, but also a way for drivers to be social, reporting road obstacles, traffic and police traps. It is properly useful.
Newsgeek, an Israeli news site, is also reporting rumors of acquisition talks and has heard that Apple placed an initial half billion dollar offer on the table.
You can download Waze from the App Store for free.
Read More