Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) yesterday stated in a legal notice for its iOS6 Maps that Israeli traffic report navigation app Waze Ltd. is a source for iOS6 Maps operating system. The announcement was made at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC)
Tech blog "TheNextWeb" broke the news, saying, We’ve confirmed this independently as well, Waze is definitely mentioned in the iOS 6 Legal Notice. Other apps included as sources in iOS 6 are: Intermap, LeadDog, Increment, Getchee, Localeze, MDA Information, Urban Mapping. These apps join TomTom NV (Euronext: TOM2) in replacing Google entirely starting for consumers in the fall."
The picture of the map that "TheNextWeb" published shows that, in addition to TomTom, Waze is also given credit for the map information: Waze Map Data © 2011.
Apple did not disclose the sources of information in its new maps app, which replaces the Google maps service previously used by iOS, saying only the reports are anonymous. Shortly after the WWDC, Apple officially announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Dutch GPS app developer TomTom to provide data in 200 countries.
Apple and Waze are very closely protecting each other's interests, rather than competing against each other. When the iOS6 is launched, hundreds of millions of users of iOS-powered devices worldwide will probably be in no hurry to go to an Appstore to download the old Waze app; instead, they actually use Apple's new maps application, where Waze will be behind the scenes.
This is apparently why Waze VP Community Geographer Di-Ann Eisnor told "AllthingsD", "I think it is going to be okay. This is really an issue of Apple and Google competing over local search. This is a battle that has nothing to do with us."
Eisnor added that Waze had expected for some time that Apple would emerge as a competitor. During a controversy over the collection of location information last year, Apple said that it needed the information it was gathering for, among other things, a crowd-sourced traffic database.
Waze can now relax. There is no start-up in the world that does not want to be a content supplier for a company like Apple, and this collaboration demonstrates that Apple, too, understands the importance of Waze's crowd-sourcing application.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 13, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012