For those familiar with Waze, it's easy to understand why Apple would want to buy the company. For those familiar with Apple Maps, it's even easier. Apple has struggled to overcome its botched Maps app that it offered with iOS 6 and its courting of Waze seems to be the next step in trying to right the ship. Waze is a social-navigation app that currently boasts about 30 million active users. Those users feed data to the system about everything that they see and encounter on their daily commutes.
Waze then communicates that info in real-time to other users, ensuring that other drivers have immediate information about their routes. In urban centers with millions of driving commuters, the app is especially effective at avoiding traffic jams, construction sites and police activity.
According to TechCrunch, Waze is seeking about $750 Million to sell to Apple, while Cupertino is only offering about $400 Million at present. From a distance, it would appear that Waze has most of the leverage, but companies like Apple often have ways of making their purchase targets see things their way.
Some Waze users are expressing concern that Apple might try to eliminate access to the app for Android users, should the acquisition go through. That would seem unlikely, given that the app draws its data - and by extension its value - from active users. By reducing its number of users, the app is immediately devalued. Even if this deal closes as rumored, Android Waze users should feel fairly safe that they will continue to have unobstructed access to the application. At least for the immediate future.
Waze then communicates that info in real-time to other users, ensuring that other drivers have immediate information about their routes. In urban centers with millions of driving commuters, the app is especially effective at avoiding traffic jams, construction sites and police activity.
According to TechCrunch, Waze is seeking about $750 Million to sell to Apple, while Cupertino is only offering about $400 Million at present. From a distance, it would appear that Waze has most of the leverage, but companies like Apple often have ways of making their purchase targets see things their way.
Some Waze users are expressing concern that Apple might try to eliminate access to the app for Android users, should the acquisition go through. That would seem unlikely, given that the app draws its data - and by extension its value - from active users. By reducing its number of users, the app is immediately devalued. Even if this deal closes as rumored, Android Waze users should feel fairly safe that they will continue to have unobstructed access to the application. At least for the immediate future.