Apple acquires Locationary and HopStop; shifts focus to mapping
After Google's acquisition of Waze,
the Israeli GPS navigation app, Apple is seeking to bolster itself onto
the mapping space. In a swift move, the Cupertino company has
reportedly shown interest in purchasing transit navigation app HopStop
and crowd-sourced location data company Locationary within days of each
other.
According to a report by AllThingsD, the deal to pick up HopStop has already been confirmed by Apple. HopStop had recently launched a Waze-like service for reporting delays, accidents and other traffic based information in real time. The company provides public transit directions in more than 500 cities across the world. It has apps for both iOS and Android and provides directions to users who wish to travel by foot or car. HopStop also has two million active users and Apple hopes will serve as a suitable alternative for Waze.
HopStop’s deal was first reported by Bloomberg and came only half a day after it was reported that Apple had sealed the deal to purchase Toronto-based Locationary. The company organises data on local businesses and will be a part of the mapping suite too.
Both the deals were confirmed to AllThingsD by Apple’s spokespersons who offered a standard comment, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
With the launch of iOS 7 coming up, one of the only places that Apple itself has admitted needs working upon is its mapping department. The Cupertino company had launched its own maps back with the release of iOS 6 last year with disastrous results. The service, termed premature by many, would throw up wrong locations, distorted maps and flawed directions. The service was panned by critics and users alike and even drew an apology from Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.
With a beefed up mapping suite, Apple will be able to offer a lot more to its users, most of who are still surviving on the Google Maps application from the App Store. Not one to go in for the slow-and-steady method, Apple seems to be working furiously to ensure that its mapping suite can challenge that of Google’s and will be hoping that these acquisitions will make Apple's native map application a worthy contender.
According to a report by AllThingsD, the deal to pick up HopStop has already been confirmed by Apple. HopStop had recently launched a Waze-like service for reporting delays, accidents and other traffic based information in real time. The company provides public transit directions in more than 500 cities across the world. It has apps for both iOS and Android and provides directions to users who wish to travel by foot or car. HopStop also has two million active users and Apple hopes will serve as a suitable alternative for Waze.
Mind on mapping
HopStop’s deal was first reported by Bloomberg and came only half a day after it was reported that Apple had sealed the deal to purchase Toronto-based Locationary. The company organises data on local businesses and will be a part of the mapping suite too.
Both the deals were confirmed to AllThingsD by Apple’s spokespersons who offered a standard comment, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
With the launch of iOS 7 coming up, one of the only places that Apple itself has admitted needs working upon is its mapping department. The Cupertino company had launched its own maps back with the release of iOS 6 last year with disastrous results. The service, termed premature by many, would throw up wrong locations, distorted maps and flawed directions. The service was panned by critics and users alike and even drew an apology from Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.
With a beefed up mapping suite, Apple will be able to offer a lot more to its users, most of who are still surviving on the Google Maps application from the App Store. Not one to go in for the slow-and-steady method, Apple seems to be working furiously to ensure that its mapping suite can challenge that of Google’s and will be hoping that these acquisitions will make Apple's native map application a worthy contender.
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