So Waze may be part of Facebook for a cool “One Billion Dollars”.
After spending $1 billion on Instagram last year to keep pace with the mobile photo explosion, Facebook is now reportedly ready to spend a similar amount on popular social driving app Waze.
Waze is considered the second most popular navigation map in the USA so it’s not too much of a surprise. I do find it interesting though that Facebook would spend this money on the data. They don’t need the users, that’s for sure and they can buy engineers to solve the problem. I can only think it is better to own Waze than use OpenStreetMap data that you have to share. Are we seeing problems with the license? I hope this is a huge discussion at OSM PLUS next month.
UPDATE – Marc Prioleau has some great insight on his blog. His kicker at the end?
Why OSM isn’t a better option is another whole discussion. I suspect it revolves around ownership and data rights.