Whenever we’ve covered Apple Maps, our commenters have fairly consistently told us to “just use Waze.” It’s not an unreasonable statement, actually. Waze, for those wondering, is a social traffic app. You pop it open once you’re in the car, and it both passively collects data and allows you to actively report crashes and hazards, while offering you constant feedback. It’s gotten to the point where people joke that Apple will just buy Waze and stick it into Apple Maps.
No points for guessing what Apple’s rumored to be doing!
And they’re likely going to have to pay a premium for it, as Waze is pretty much the only game in town:
…Waze’s international use has been growing. Outside of Google’s project to map cities with Streetview cars – something which has taken years to complete – and the real-world mapping undertaken by volunteers on the Open Streetmaps open source project, there has been little to match Waze’s approach.
If this does actually happen, and it seems like that it will since Apple has more money than God and Waze made less than $1 million last year, it’s probably bad news for the Android version. It’ll likely be given the Apple treatment, which is essentially being left to rot until Google fixes it. Apparently currently Waze wants $750 million, while Apple only wants to give it $400 million, but we’re sure these problems can be resolved. Likely by looking at how quickly Google Maps was downloaded when it hit the App Store.
But, hey, on the bright side, Apple Maps will finally not suck!