After Yahoo’s billion dollar acquisition of Tumblr, Google has joined its ranks by buying Waze, a community based GPS mapping, traffic and navigation app, for $1.1 Billion. Through Waze, users will be able to report traffic and events on the road and recommend shortest routes to common destinations. As more and more people start using Waze and share information in real time, you will be able to outsmart traffic jams and also avoid road hazards that are happening right ahead. If that was not enough you can view Facebook events and friends driving to the same destination.
Looks like a huge loss to Facebook who could have gained a lot by social maps integration to its apps.
Google apps is getting better and better everyday and I applaud the Google team for continuously investing their time and resources to bring great services to everyday users. Their official statement about the acquisition is posted on Google blog.
