Apple's location startup
buying spree isn't over yet — the company has acquired transit company Embark
for an undisclosed sum.
The news, firstreported by Jessica Lessin, comes about a month after the acquisition
of another transit app, HopStop.
Embark currently has
transit apps for 10 different transit systems in the App Store. The startup has
received money from Y Combinator, SV Angel and BMW.
According to Lessin,
Apple will integrate some of Embark's subway mapping technology into the next
version of Apple Maps. Direct transit map integration is a feature Apple
declined to add to the initial version of Apple Maps that launched last fall.
Instead, Apple made it possible for users to open third-party apps (including
HopStop and Embark) from the main mapping interface.
As someone who uses
public transit every day, I can say that the de-coupling of built-in transit
directions is one reason I almost always use Google Maps for iOS.
Apple has had a busy
summer on the location acquisition front. In addition to HopStop and Embark,
the company also acquired location data company Locationary.
When reached for comment,
Apple gave Mashable its boiler-plate statement about
acquisitions:
"Apple buys smaller
technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our
purpose or plans."
It's interesting that
Apple would acquire Embark in addition to HopStop, given the similarity in
purpose (and considering HopStop has a much larger user base and supports more
transit systems). We look forward to seeing how this will impact Apple's future
mapping plans.
What do you think of
Apple's Embark acquisition? Let us know in the comments.
Source:http://mashable.com
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