Google looks to be taking its maps social, adding crowd-sourced traffic information software company Waze Inc. to its ever-expanding fold, according to sources close to Bloomberg news. The business deal, which hasn't been officially announced yet, could continue to make Google Maps the go-to app for your road trip.
Waze Inc. is a crowd-sourced based mapping app, started in Israel. The company, created in 2008, has already been successful in its own right: gaining investing partners, adding new features, and winning millions of subscribers in 190 countries. And at the Mobile World Congress this year, Waze won Best Overall Mobile App.
The mobile software gets its revenue from location-based ads, and is a free multi-platform app for GPS navigation. However, it boasts a unique feature that sets it apart from standard GPS turn-by-turn direction apps: it relies on users to report traffic conditions, accidents, jams, police speed traps, as well as gas prices along their route. The company's motto is "Outsmarting Traffic, Together."
If the anonymously sourced reports are correct, Google wants to make the crowd-sourced traffic information part of its mobile maps app, and doesn't just want to license the technology, but to own it. It will cost Google $1.1 billion to do that, according to Bloomberg, though others predict the cost is as high as $1.3 billion. As Zdnet noted, no matter which figure Google is paying, it would make the acquisition of Waze one of the Mountain View giant's most expensive purchases ever, ranking up there with the 2006 purchase of YouTube for $1.65 billion.
Why is Google doing this? They hope to remain the top source for maps, especially in the growing mobile market and social media worlds, where they have increasingly had to compete with other popular companies like Apple and Facebook. "Google needs to maintain supremacy in maps, as they are a key to mobile advertising," said Andrew Frank, an analyst at Gartner Inc., to Bloomberg. "They need more ways to shore up their social efforts."
Speaking of competing on the social media front, according to the Bloomberg report, Facebook actually sought to acquire Waze earlier last month, reportedly offering almost $1 billion, which would have ranked as one of Zuckerberg's most expensive acquisitions, along the lines of his Facebook/Instagram deal. According to Zdnet, Apple was also interested in buying the startup.
So what can you expect from this deal? For the short term don't expect much, as it hasn't even been made official yet. However, in the long term, expect Google Maps to become more dominant on mobile phones if reports of this deal are correct and Google adds Waze's social traffic information to its services.
Also, expect Google (and its rivals) to continue to get more social. As mobile technologies continue to grow, location-based information will become ever more important, as will location-based advertisements. Until someone figures out how to come up with live-updated, relevant location-based information using a top-down approach, more location-based apps will likely require a ground-up approach like Waze's, meaning we're all going to be in this together.