Less than a month after rumors of a potential TomTom acquisition swirled, Apple (AAPL) is now reportedly considering a buyout of social navigation startup Waze in an effort to improve its much-maligned Maps application. TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that “there are rumours flying around that Apple is sniffing around Waze with a view to a possible acquisition,” though the source of the rumors is unclear. A similar report was published by Israeli news site NewsGeek.
Waze, which currently provides some data to Apple for use in its iOS Maps app, utilizes user-submitted data to enhance its free navigation service available for iOS, Android and other platforms. Waze CEO Noam Bardin has been vocal about the quality of Apple’s mapping solution in the past, having said previously that Apple chose some of its mapping partners poorly, resulting in “the lowest, weakest data set.”
