Apple purchased Google Maps competitor Placebase - report
This summer, Apple quietly purchased the worldwide mapping company Placebase -- one that competed with Google's own Maps product, featured on the iPhone.
Reports of the purchase of Placebase, maker of Pushpin and openplaces.org, first surfaced in July. They were confirmed this week by ComputerWorld, as the company's former CEO, Jaron Waldman, is now allegedly part of the "Geo Team" at Apple. The Cupertino, Calif., company has never confirmed the acquisition.
In 2008, Placebase was profiled by GigaOm. At the time, a new product called PolicyMap was revealed. Using the PushPin API, PolicyMap would aggregate data on subjects such as demographics, home sales, crime, mortgage lending, school performance and more. The company reportedly earned millions of dollars in revenue and survived without any venture capital funding, successfully competing with Google's free Maps.
"Waldman thought differently," the report said. "He decided to compete with Google and other free mapping services by doing two things: One, by offering customizations and tons of features that integrated private and public data sets in many diverse ways. (He knew it would be a while before Google would get around to offering customization). His other twist was to offer a way to layer commercial and other data sets (such as demographics and crime data) onto the maps using an easy-to-use application programming interface (API)."
Weeks ago, when Google publicly revealed the content of its letter to the FCC in response to a government inquiry, it was discovered that Apple allegedly rejected the Google Latitude Application, because Apple believed the software could replicate the native Maps application included with the iPhone -- software also created by Google. Apple said that the new software could "create user confusion" with Google Maps.
In August, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, stepped down from the Apple Board of Directors. The two companies were continuing to encroach on each others' businesses, and were under investigation from the Federal Trade Commission for a possible violation of antitrust laws through unfair collaboration.
With the latest acquisition, it would appear that Apple could be building its own Google Maps competitor based on the technology found in PolicyMap from Placebase.
Reports of the purchase of Placebase, maker of Pushpin and openplaces.org, first surfaced in July. They were confirmed this week by ComputerWorld, as the company's former CEO, Jaron Waldman, is now allegedly part of the "Geo Team" at Apple. The Cupertino, Calif., company has never confirmed the acquisition.
In 2008, Placebase was profiled by GigaOm. At the time, a new product called PolicyMap was revealed. Using the PushPin API, PolicyMap would aggregate data on subjects such as demographics, home sales, crime, mortgage lending, school performance and more. The company reportedly earned millions of dollars in revenue and survived without any venture capital funding, successfully competing with Google's free Maps.
"Waldman thought differently," the report said. "He decided to compete with Google and other free mapping services by doing two things: One, by offering customizations and tons of features that integrated private and public data sets in many diverse ways. (He knew it would be a while before Google would get around to offering customization). His other twist was to offer a way to layer commercial and other data sets (such as demographics and crime data) onto the maps using an easy-to-use application programming interface (API)."
Weeks ago, when Google publicly revealed the content of its letter to the FCC in response to a government inquiry, it was discovered that Apple allegedly rejected the Google Latitude Application, because Apple believed the software could replicate the native Maps application included with the iPhone -- software also created by Google. Apple said that the new software could "create user confusion" with Google Maps.
In August, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, stepped down from the Apple Board of Directors. The two companies were continuing to encroach on each others' businesses, and were under investigation from the Federal Trade Commission for a possible violation of antitrust laws through unfair collaboration.
With the latest acquisition, it would appear that Apple could be building its own Google Maps competitor based on the technology found in PolicyMap from Placebase.
Comments
Google's focus is now on Android and the software features for their phones. Apple is now secondary (or worse).
Watch for the replacement of Google Maps on future releases....possibly 4.0 is my guess (June '10). Google Maps will be moved to App Store for anyone to voluntarily download....but it won't be a base App anymore.....and won't be the default Map for other programs to use.
The reality is that Google is no longer a partner but a direct competitor. A company can not, and should not, rely on a competitor for any service or parts for their key products.
Google's focus is now on Android and the software features for their phones. Apple is now secondary (or worse).
Watch for the replacement of Google Maps on future releases....possibly 4.0 is my guess (June '10). Google Maps will be moved to App Store for anyone to voluntarily download....but it won't be a base App anymore.....and won't be the default Map for other programs to use.
You want to remove the branding of the most well known mapping software in the world and replace it with an unknown solution as the default on the iPhone?
I hope you realize that every time Apple talks about the maps application, it's not called "Maps", but "Google Maps". And their name is displayed prominently. Trying to remove that from the phone (even if they can download it on the App Store) would throw a TON of people into a fit.
And then you have to somehow argue to me that a start-up company is better than a company who's been working on this for years. I'm not saying it's impossible, just very difficult to prove that point.
if anything, the purchase of this company is probably more about getting more data sources for the Google Maps app than anything else. It's about making their implementation of Google Maps better. I mean, the Google Maps app on the iPhone is nothing special, and uses public APIs. It's not like Google can yank control and deny access or something (they could, but they're not that dumb). I'd say it's more about making sure that the Apple implementation of Google Maps is better than the Android version.
In addition to Numbers, Apple will integrate data maps and provide additional geospatial data integration in the iPhone and MobileMe platforms.
Finally they may provide a separate program for data visualization that would simplify (and be much more cost competitive) than programs such as Tableau (an excellent program but only available for PC's now).
You want to remove the branding of the most well known mapping software in the world and replace it with an unknown solution as the default on the iPhone?
I hope you realize that every time Apple talks about the maps application, it's not called "Maps", but "Google Maps". And their name is displayed prominently. Trying to remove that from the phone (even if they can download it on the App Store) would throw a TON of people into a fit.
But it is called Maps on the iPhone and iPod touch, not Google Maps. It uses Google Maps as its backend and Google is displayed in the bottom left of the map itself, not in the UI. It would be a pretty transparent change to change the backend. I doubt most would even notice.
You want to remove the branding of the most well known mapping software in the world and replace it with an unknown solution as the default on the iPhone?
I hope you realize that every time Apple talks about the maps application, it's not called "Maps", but "Google Maps". And their name is displayed prominently. Trying to remove that from the phone (even if they can download it on the App Store) would throw a TON of people into a fit.
I don't know, maybe "Placebase" doesn't have much branding capital going with it but "Apple Maps" sounds like a formidable brand name to me.
The acquisition of Placebase doesn't sound very significant but add to that the fact that Apple is a) building a server mega-farm in the Carolinas and b) about to release a mobile tablet, then it seems pretty likely that Apple is building a much larger walled garden that will compete with the non-search offerings of Google, Yahoo and Windows Live.
The question is whether this will be Apple devices only, Mobile Me only, Mobile me only but no subscription fee, open but with fee, or completely open and no fee. My guess is Apple will try to offer a compelling line up of services and features, including exclusive arrangements with popular entertainment acts, to achieve the holy grail of internet portals --a fee paying mass of subscribers. Failing that, they'll be happy with just being able to sell more mobile devices, as in orders of magnitude more.
Oh man, I'm trying to imagine what that might do to my AAPL holdings.
The acquisition of Placebase doesn't sound very significant but add to that the fact that Apple is a) building a server mega-farm in the Carolinas
Guys I'd hate to curb your enthusiasm a bit. Google uses TeleAtlas as a Map foundation, placebase uses Navteq. None is better then the other one. One belongs to TomTom one belongs to Nokia (that would be Navteq). So the quality of the maps will not improve, the layout might change.
As to the data contained in openplaces : OMG it is so US centric again. Just did a search on Hotels in Liverpool (UK) and the hotels "it" came up with - frankly don't go there. Hotels on Brussels are a bit better - but funny enough => openplaces uses Google Maps LOL
And whether its Apple or Google that can control my every move and profile - is there something I can do against it ? No.
The reality is that Google is no longer a partner but a direct competitor.
When Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were interviewed together at the D5 Conference, Jobs said that in the past Apple wasn't good at partnering with others and wanted to do "the whole banana."
Is this another step in returning to the old way of thinking? All the stuff with Intel and nVidia and the chips.
Too bad the only partnership going strong with Apple is AT&T.
When Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were interviewed together at the D5 Conference, Jobs said that in the past Apple wasn't good at partnering with others and wanted to do "the whole banana."
Is this another step in returning to the old way of thinking? All the stuff with Intel and nVidia and the chips.
Too bad the only partnership going strong with Apple is AT&T.
Yeah I remember that. Jobs even said that's a quality of Microsoft that he wished Apple had (being able to work well with others.)
Even the AT&T partnership is better for Apple than AT&T, or at least that's the impression I get. If someone doesn't buy into the expensive stuff like the text messaging then AT&T turns a thin profit.
One angle that I particularly like is the provision of information about venues of all types - hotels, restaurants, pubs, destinations such as stately homes, National trust properties etc. When you couple the map with detailed information such as you can get in Google Earth, some of it maybe provided after a micro-payment, and provide the ability to make bookings (incorporating a fee to Apple, of course!), you can start to see the potential...
It sounds like Apple and google are headed towards a nasty separation.
I hope not. Hope they will me mature about it all. I like Google and don't want them to become the new MS in Apple fans' eyes. By the way - check out Bing maps. I haven't used it much so I am not sure how robust it is but the maps are fantastic. You can flip them around to view from different angles. Very cool.
And then you have to somehow argue to me that a start-up company is better than a company who's been working on this for years. I'm not saying it's impossible, just very difficult to prove that point.
Apple's done pretty well in the past in identifying companies with a small jewel of technology, buying them, rebranding and refining the technology, and putting together a killer app. A little application called iTunes comes to mind as one example. You may have heard of it.
Granted, iTunes wasn't going against anything like Google, but just like Apple used the iPod to make iTunes popular, they can use the iPhone to make their mapping service common place, too.
This summer, Apple quietly purchased the worldwide mapping company Placebase -- one that competed with Google's own Maps product, featured on the iPhone. ...
This purchase makes a lot of sense, but I can't help but wish they would spend a few bucks on acquiring a company that makes a decent integrated contacts/calendars product for iPhone before they spend their time on fancy map options for enterprise users.
When Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were interviewed together at the D5 Conference, Jobs said that in the past Apple wasn't good at partnering with others and wanted to do "the whole banana."
Is this another step in returning to the old way of thinking? All the stuff with Intel and nVidia and the chips.
Too bad the only partnership going strong with Apple is AT&T.
Microsoft is a pure software company (okay outside of the failures called Zune and Xbox*) who has no choice but to partner with device manufacturers.
Apple has expertise in both hardware and software.
Even if Apple strives to be the perfect partner, they will never have as wide and many partnerships as Microsoft. That's not the way to judge how well Apple is doing on the 'partnering' department. The question is, is Apple able to develop long term stable partnerships that are contributing to its bottom line?
So far the answer seems to be a qualified yes. Aside from AT&T, I'd say the Intel partnership is pretty strong. Apple is not about to abandon X86 and Intel is not about to kick Apple out. And I'll take Light Peak as evidence of a pretty good working relationship. Other key partnerships are with Samsung and Toshiba(?) for the supply of ARM chips and flash memory. Apple would not acquire a fab-less chip house if they cannot build a stable partnership with a reliable and trustworthy chip fab house. Finally, there are those thousands of partnerships with all the iPhone App developers. Here, it's easy to see how Apple is doing. Are they losing developers or not?
*Xbox cannot be considered a success until it starts making consistent profits and recoups the billions upon billions of dollars that MS has sunk in it.
I like Google and don't want them to become the new MS in Apple fans' eyes.
Google already is the new Microsoft, but more dangerous because they are actually competent.
I'd be quite happy to have Apple Maps replace Google on the iPhone.
BTW, I'm in an opthamologist's office and they are using a glossy 20" iMac for vision tests.