Apple did offer to buy Waze, but Waze politely declined

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/01/04/apple-definitely-did-intend-to-buy-waze-but-waze-politely-declined/

by derpenxyne • 14 years ago

61 45 14 years ago

I used Waze for awhile. The problem I have with it is that it's just not as accurate as the alternatives. Not only would it get streets wrong, but sometimes lead me in the wrong direction.

I got tired of this and switched over to Google maps (ios version). It's much better.

chadzawistowski• 14 years ago

I preferred Google Maps once I returned home for the holidays. Waze seems to specialize in traffic data and rerouting, something which doesn't seem to work all too well in rural areas.

While out in California, on the other hand, Waze managed to find a new route into the city which saves me 20 minutes over Google Maps anytime I head that way.

sachinag• 14 years ago

Ayup. Nothing else does rerouting as well as Waze.

drbawb2• 14 years ago

I used to love Waze, because of the clever rerouting and the UI was pretty slick for a free GPS app.

I'm thinking of switching to Google Maps though because their search is quite frankly _better._ Which doesn't make sense to me, because my understanding is that Waze just aggregates search results from several major sources. {Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc.}

Around the holidays: Waze routed me to a store [first result] that had closed and relocated [a few miles down the road].

Google Maps showed the same results, but they were ranked differently: the closed or relocated store was annotated as such, and was ranked at the bottom of the list.

I've also had Waze fail to take some addresses as input, for e.g: when the house number has a WEST and SOUTH portion, that other apps can understand with no problems.

I almost got lost because of that glitch.

I've just had too many problems with the Waze search to continue using it. Which is a real shame, because I love the app itself.

ramses0• 14 years ago

Apple fails at social-interaction. They have no feedback loops, no community involvement. Compare to google where the community-feedback loop is almost a part of the product culture.

Waze has social integration (facebook), realtime community reporting (speed), realtime community hazard reports (object on road), community map editing (tweak routes, add roads).

I can't believe that Apple is so good at making "beautiful" things but so bad at community engagement (gamecenter, ping, maps, *.mac, etc).

jpxxx2• 14 years ago

Quibble: Apple has been collecting realtime traffic data from Apple Maps users since year one or two of iOS.

sigzero• 14 years ago

That was when Apple Maps was actually Google Maps and using different data.

roc• 14 years ago

Apple's DNA is wired to produce singular, curated experiences. That's damn-near antithetical to writing software that's explicitly inclusive of other input and needs to cater to the broadest audiences possible, to hit the network effect.

Nintendo is much the same way.

And there's no shortage of examples of artists who turn out phenomenal works but are notoriously difficult to work with and dismissive of criticism or collaborative efforts.

rimantas• 14 years ago

But Apple also has superb customer support and Google fails at this. As for Apple maps, the option to provide feedback is built-in.

gkoberger• 14 years ago

Interesting. This doesn't seem like a good fit for me: Apple really just needs better data, yet the accuracy is even worse for Waze than Apple's maps. Plus, most of their product would probably never make it into iOS -- I can't see Apple letting users report police locations, messaging other cars or collecting items.

(Side note: just last month, Apple was reportedly in talks with FourSquare: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732490720457818...)

sisk2• 14 years ago

I have had wonderful accuracy with Waze. In fact, the one instance where I had an issue (was told to turn left on a no left turn), I reported it (a well exposed feature in the app) and it was fixed by the next time I drove by. I think that's the real win with Waze as far as mapping goes (the realtime traffic awareness is the number one feature over all): it's crowd sourced so problems can be reported and will be fixed by community map editors (similar to the Wikipedia model).

jessedhillon• 14 years ago

I stopped using Waze after December of 2011. They have these powerups that they put all over the virtual road, and you hear a crunching noise as your phone character drives over and eats them. Well, in December they felt it was very important that you know that Waze was going to be dropping Santa hats as well, so they placed a popup blocking the entire screen, which (due to a bug I suppose) could not be dismissed. I nearly missed a flight because I was running late and badly needed directions to LAX, but instead Waze pnly wanted to give me news about Santa hats. Finally I pulled over and pulled up LAX on IOS maps.

Prior to that, I used it for probably a year and raved about it to everyone. But annoying things like this crept in and destroyed my enthusiasm. For example, there was an option to have Waze prioritize driving over powerups when computing routes -- who wants that!? And the brevity/frequency settings for the voiceover directions were wanting -- either hear a command three times before you have to turn, or hear a slightly shorter command three times, or get no audible direction.

What occurred to me in December was that these guys were spending a lot of time on gamification when there were core UI/UX issues which needed addressing. Fundamentally, you're taking someone who has to get somewhere (in a hurry, perhaps) and making them play a very lame game.

But they've raised ~$70M so they have a long time to get it right.

Edit: at this time I didn't know how to kill running apps on IOS. I had just gotten my iPhone a month earlier.

albemuth• 14 years ago

Not sure if this was the case back in 2011, but all of the features you mentioned regarding power-ups can be disabled in the settings pane. As to the voice directions, your experience seems very different to mine, maybe it's time to give it another chance.

cstejerean2• 14 years ago

I have the same issues with voice direction. It repeats the same instructions way to frequently, often without even a pause in between. For example, earlier today:

"Take exit for XXX. In 500 ft. stay to the right at XXX south. Stay to the right at XXX south".

debacle• 14 years ago

> While Waze has an impressive user base (20 million at last count and said to be nearing 30 million), the company has still not found a way to adequately monetize its product, or build a scalable business model to profit from.

How many more times do we get to watch this story play out?

sabat• 14 years ago

It's been a successful strategy for many companies, however perilous it might be.

jrockway• 14 years ago

Which ones? (I'm not ready to call Twitter a success.)

pclark• 14 years ago

Can you give me a few examples where this story has not played out with a successful company at the end of it?

ynniv5• 14 years ago

In what world does a company with no monetization strategy turn down a $500M acquisition? Who do they think is going to pay more for them, Yahoo!?

smackfu• 14 years ago

"multiple sources have told us that the company was valued around $200 million in its last funding round, and current investors were aiming for a higher price, somewhere nearing $1 billion."

ynniv5• 14 years ago

I read the article too... that doesn't answer the question of who they think is going to pay that price. Here's a hint: not Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Oracle, Apple, IBM, Nokia, or Facebook... Perhaps they're holding out for Samsung, but that's a bit of a stretch.

sisk2• 14 years ago

They've monetized. I've seen advertisements on the splash screen in SF (for the local network news team, strangely), and Zipcar, Hess, Taco Bell, and Dunkin Donuts POI indicators on the map in and around the Boston area. Clicking on those POI pins opens up exclusive offers to those merchants for Waze users. I have no idea how successful that strategy is but it's a strategy none the less.

ynniv5• 14 years ago

Yeah, that sounds like a winner. To quote Sorkin, "Gary’s Tuxedos, the Harvard Bartending Course. You’re just one small step away from bagging Snookies Cookies, I can feel it."

duked• 14 years ago

In a world where the next startup expect to exit like instagram ;) seems like 1B is now the new hot number :/

ry0ohki• 14 years ago

One of the reasons to be very wary of taking funding... you may be forced to turn down $500M because your investors aren't going to take a simple 2X multiple.

jacquesm• 14 years ago

Very few investors are going to turn down a $500M exit, even if it is only at a 2X multiple.

Giving your investors the ability to torpedo a deal of that magnitude seems to be a failure in its own right. So if you do get funding make sure you're not handing over control over future exits.

What's good enough for the founders should be good enough for the investors.

A good set of 'drag along/tag along' clauses will take nicely care of that possible scenario.

panabee2• 14 years ago

perhaps you know more than me about the company, but from the outside, it seems like there are several customers segments who might pay for traffic data: (1) government agencies looking to maintain and invest in roads and local infrastructure like traffic lights; (2) billboard owners who want to offer audience figures to advertisers; (3) real estate developers who want more accurate data before deciding to invest in property; (4) real estate agents who want to offer traffic data to prospective retail and restaurant leasers; (5) shipping/delivery companies who need traffic patterns to determine optimal routes.

my understanding is google maps generates $1B+ from its APIs. perhaps the waze founders think they can approach similar revenue figures with traffic data. i haven't crunched the numbers to see if this is feasible, but my hunch is they declined the $500M acquisition with good reason and with a (potentially) sustainable revenue model in their hip pocket.

ynniv5• 14 years ago

Waze is not going to beat Inrix at selling traffic data. People think that Waze is big because it is a consumer application that they have heard of, but Waze is not a serious player in the B2B traffic data market.

seanp2k2• 14 years ago

Not that it would have made Apple Maps much better; Waze was always getting me lost and sending me down sidestreets to end up at the dead-end residential street behind the shopping center I intended to visit. To their credit, TomTom does this as well sometimes, but in general it's a much better nav app (granted it's like $40 vs. Waze at $0).

Apple did offer to buy Waze, but Waze politely declined

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