Google to Buy Waze for $1.3B

In the seemingly neverending saga of Waze, Google reportedly has beaten out Facebook and Apple to buy the crowd-sourcing app for $1.3 billion.

The Israel-based Waze, which uses GPS data and crowdsourcing to create "social mapping," had been wooed by Apple, Facebook and now Google, according to the Independent and Press:Here's previous reports.

Our previous reports indicated that Facebook had been in talks with Waze for six months, supposedly beating out Apple's $500 million offer for the startup. It was rumored that Apple wanted the mapping startup to beef up its in-house Apple Maps after its previous Apple Maps fiasco. Facebook was reportedly offering $1 billion -- the same price given to purchase Instagram -- but became entrenched in a bidding war with Google. If the deal goes through, Google obviously outbid its competitors. 

Reports also say that Facebook lost interest in Waze when it insisted on keeping its headquarters in Israel.

But is Google possibly buying Waze to keep others from its mapping dominance? It could be likely. Waze's social mapping, which has users sharing their whereabouts while driving, would enhance Google's offerings. It would help party hosts see how close their guests are or if they are lost, for instance, and suggest an alternate route. 

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