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Apple may have Google Maps replacement waiting in the wings

// October 1st, 2009 // Tech News

Apple has had a fairly comfortable relationship with Google in the past—CEO Eric Schmidt had a place on Apple’s board, Google is the default search for its Safari browser, and Google Maps and YouTube are first-class applications on the iPhone. Apple has even created a maps API that allows iPhone developers to easily include Google Map data directly into their own apps. However, earlier this year Apple bought a small startup that created its own Google Maps competitor. The purchase may be a sign that growing competition between the two companies—which resulted in the recent resignation of Schmidt from Apple’s board —could be causing a rift in the once-friendly alliance. Apple bought online mapping company Placebase in July of this year. The only source of the information at the time was a tweet from a company that used Placebase’s PushPin API, noting the deal was “all hush hush.” Though Apple made no public announcement, the purchase was confirmed yesterday when Computerworld noticed that founder and CEO Jaron Waldman listed his current position as working in the “Geo Team” at Apple. Furthermore, websites for both Placebase and the PushPin API now just redirect to documentation for the API.