Google spent just over $1 billion to take Waze away from Facebook, Apple or Nokia and Microsoft. It equally sought the real-time driver feedback that Waze crowd-sourcing provides.
Given the size of the transaction the US FTC got immediately involved to bring antitrust scrutiny to the acquisition. Now Bloomberg reports that the FTC is unlikely to block the deal:
Though innovative, Waze is a relatively small player in the mapping world and it would be difficult for the FTC to make a compelling case against the acquisition.
Thought Waze is gone there are a number of other independent mapping providers that remain. Among them is Telenav, which offers GPS based smartphone navigation and local search app Scout. This morning the company announced a new version of the app for Android devices. It offers two new social mapping features.
The first is called OnMyWay, which allows real-time ETA sharing. Waze also offers this feature; and both were preceded by Glympse. Telenav/Scout also announced a related social meetup capability:
Finally independent mapping provider deCarta announced last month that it was granted a patent for mobile “search along the route.”
Waze also offers a comparable search along the route feature and so does Mapquest. Both are likely implicated by deCarta’s patent.
As a practical matter Telenav, which is public, and deCarta are both potential acquisition targets.
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