Apple has not given up on its failed mapping service yet, and according to the latest update the California-based tech giant has now acquired another company to improve its maps. The name of this newly acquired company is Embark and it develops transit-related apps. So far Embark has added 10 transit-related apps to the App Store. The news was first broke by Jessica Lessin with Apple confirming the deal to her. However, it is still not known how much money Apple has spent to make this acquisition.
“We don’t know how much Apple paid for the several-person team it acquired very recently. But we heard from people knowledgeable about the deal that the company plans to directly integrate Embark’s technology into Apple Maps.”
Although, during last November Embark received fresh investment from BMW, but now Apple will take the full benefit of this acquisition and use the company’s information to integrate it directly in its own mapping app. However, this was not the first acquisition that Apple has made in the quest to improve its Maps App, as roughly a month ago Cupertino-based company got hold of two companies HopStop and Locationary.
Prior to this, back in 2009, Apple acquired Placebase in order to add it to its Maps division portfolio. But that acquisition did not work for the company, as it appeared that Apple perhaps launched its Maps App in a hurry, while Richard Williamson, who was the head of initial mapping team, failed to live up to the expectation. So CEO Tim Cook fired him and appointed another executive of Apple as the new head of the mapping team.
Nevertheless, it was all too late, as till then the damage was done, as the maps fiasco brought lot of shame to the company and gave its rival companies like Samsung a chance to make a mockery of Apple’s poor effort. More importantly users had lost their faith in the top brand of the world, as the Maps App of Apple guided them to wrong places and put their lives in danger.
Now with the acquisition of Embark and other companies Apple is looking to enhance its mapping service, so it could restore its repute. Interesting part about the latest acquisition is that the founder of Embark, David Hodge had worked at one of Apple’s stores.
Source: 9t05Mac
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