Official - Google has bought Waze

[Darren]

After much speculation Google have today announced the completion of a deal which will see them acquire Israeli mapping and navigation outfit Waze.

The figures involved have not been disclosed but, if rumours are to be believed, the sale price may have been as high as $1bn.

Posting on Google's blog they wrote, "To help you outsmart traffic, today we’re excited to announce we’ve closed the acquisition of Waze. This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work, every day."

Waze's development teams will remain in Israel. That issue was one of the sticking points that prevented an earlier deal with Facebook.

"We are excited about the prospect of working with the Google Maps team to enhance our search capabilities and to join them in their ongoing efforts to build the best map of the world." said Waze CEO, Noam Bardim.

Source: googleblog.blogspot.com

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Darren Griffin

[AliOnHols]

I use Waze mainly for its free traffic and mobile police speed checks, both of which I find fairly accurate.

Part of Waze's attraction for me is also its simplicity so I'm not so sure what to think about this acquisition by Google.

Although perfectly adequate for purpose, the current maps, downloaded over 3g while driving, are very basic and not unlike like a kiddies crayon drawing when compared to other SatNav maps, so I assume they have a low impact on data allowance, especially useful if roaming when abroad.

Introduce Google and their satellite, feature rich, POI abundant maps, I don't think that that I shall be so inclined to use Waze in future if I have to sort the wheat from the chaff and pay for the extra bandwidth too.

But you have got to feel pleased for the Israeli developers, fancy hitting upon an idea a few years ago and now being bought out for $1bn?.
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Garmin Nuvi 2599
Android with CamerAlert, OsmAnd+, Waze & TT Europe.
TomTom GO 730, GO 930, GO 940 & Rider2.
SatMap Active 10 & 20.

[suparuss]

Actually, I couldn't be happier about this. I love Waze for it's traffic and incident avoiding ability. The fact that the information is live is a real plus.

I really don't like the look and feel of Waze, so avoid using it except for long journeys when avoiding traffic is a must.

I love the look and feel of Google Navigation.

Add Waze functionality to Google looks and you've got a killer sat nav app

[tonylathes]

I tried it as a SatNav - unfortunately (in every respect) it was useless in comparison with a dedicated unit. No doubt it will improve.....

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