Rumors of Waze being purchased have circulated for months, with everyone fr0m Facebook to Apple being reported as ready to pull the acquisition trigger. Now the rumor mongers can search for another rumor, and they can use Google Maps enhanced with Waze technology to do it, as Google has purchased the Israel social-based navigation company for a rumored $1.3 billion.
Google Company Blog, via Macgasm:
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.
Google says the Waze team will keep their independence and their home base in Israel for the time being. It also says some features of Waze will be making their way to Google’s Maps app. “We’re excited about the prospect of enhancing Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze and enhancing Waze with Google’s search capabilities.”
Waze began life four years ago, and has collected over 47 million users since then.
