Google Officially Buys Waze, Will Integrate Technologies

Google announced they’ve officially acquired Waze, the popular app based social driven mapping technology. This was expected and the rumors are Google paid $1.3 billion for the Israeli startup company.

The big questions are (1) will this acquisition be allowed and if so (2) will Google allow Waze to be an independent product and brand?

Google did imply that Waze will eventually be brought into Google Maps completely, saying the software and company will “operate separately for now.” Google also said they are “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.”