Google Inc. (GOOG): Apple Inc. (AAPL) Buys Its Way Indoors

The Mac maker becomes a map maker
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has confirmed the acquisition to both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, without officially disclosing the price. The WSJ‘s sources peg the price tag at $20 million, which is little more than loose change for Apple.

WifiSLAM is now the fourth acquisition that Apple has picked up to build its mapping service. The Mac maker began acquiring map makers as early as 2009, starting with Placebase for an unknown amount. The company would then proceed to buy Poly9 in 2010 and C3 Technologies in 2011. These three purchases were stitched together to help launch Apple Maps.

Two months ago, there were also rumors that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was looking to acquire Waze, the crowd-sourced traffic and navigation service. The acquisition made sense, since Waze is also a small start-up with innovative technology that could be integrated into Apple’s offerings, and Waze is already one of Apple’s mapping data partners. The proposed deal supposedly broke down over price, as Apple had reportedly offered $500 million but Waze’s owners were asking upwards of $750 million to $1 billion.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s ceiling for acquisitions tends to be in the ballpark of $500 million, so it’s not surprising that it was unwilling to meet Waze’s asking price. The $500 million acquisition of flash specialist Anobit was one of Apple’s largest — bigger than when Apple effectively bought Steve Jobs back via NeXT for $404 million.

Let’s all go indoors
There’s no question that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is still the top dog in mobile mapping, and that indoor maps and location services are the next frontier.

Less than a year ago, nearly two dozen companies, including the likes of Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) , and Samsung, got together to launch the In-Location Alliance to give indoor location services a boost. Mapping is one of Nokia’s three main operating segments, even if it’s relatively small at 4% of sales last year. Qualcomm also likes to invest in all sorts of new areas of research and development, like some of the random stuff it showed off at CES. Not all of these pan out, such as its Mirasol display technology that it axed last year, but the good news is that the company fails cheaply.

With WifiSLAM, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is buying its way indoors.

The article Apple Buys Its Way Indoors originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Apple and Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Qualcomm.

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