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How Google bought Waze
- aembleton 11y agoIt's a bit of a shame that they're not independent of Google, but I would have sold out too for that sort of money. I use Waze everyday to avoid traffic and even when I do end up in a jam it lets me know how long I've got to sit through it.
- jonknee 11y agoWell thanks to antitrust concerns they are pretty much independent and it still has the same awful UI and bugs of the app before it was sold. Really wish it could benefit from Google Maps (especially for POI search!).
- rchmura 11y agoWhat do you mean by "pretty much independent" due to "antitrust concerns"? (Source?)
- jonknee 11y agohttp://www.fairsearch.org/uk-competition-authority-puts-google-waze-combination-on-hold/ http://www.fairsearch.org/uk-competition-authority-puts-goog... There hasn't been any news on this for a while, but Waze has also stayed almost exactly the same. There's a little integration the other way (Google Maps sometimes shows incidents reported on Waze), but that's it.
- nosuchthing 11y agoWaze could certainly benefit from some wise UX choices the Google Maps team long implemented. Namely the ability to choose any start location and swap it with the end location to get round trip time estimates.
- sirkneeland 11y agoI think you can do Google POI search from within Waze, no? IIRC you can select from sources like Yelp, Google, Waze's own db etc...
- jonknee 11y agoIt does give you some options, but then it starts to feel like you're doing the work instead of Waze (why can't they diff the results and just show you the POIs?). The predictive search is just awful, you'll see results from all over the country (and sometimes world!) when you're looking for something a few miles away. There are frequently duplicates in the list and adding to the issue is that the list view also contains so little information that it's hard to see if the result is the one you're looking for. Google Maps absolutely blows away Waze in terms of search UI. Other gripes: It suggests using HOV lanes despite not knowing if there is someone else in the car, that can dramatically effect routes (say route A is faster only if you can use the HOV lane). For ferries (I live in Seattle) it doesn't count the time on the ferry which can give you wildly incorrect time estimates. There's also not a way to ask for a route that doesn't include a ferry (sometimes you can drive around). For example Google Maps suggests 1:04 to get to a spot on Bainbrdige for me right now where Waze says 25 minutes. Considering the ferry ride itself takes ~30 minutes...
- sirkneeland 11y agoI agree they need to revamp their HOV situation. In my case, I have a car with an HOV sticker and I don't know if it's measuring HOV lane traffic separately from non-HOV traffic (huge difference in the Bay Area on the 101) @jonknee is your name jon kneeland? I'm a John Kneeland. Small world!
- aembleton 11y agoI find Google navigation UI more confusing because it puts alternative routes on the map whilst I'm trying to find the route and drive at the same time. I just want a clear bold line showing me where to go. Waze gives me that and only gives out more info when stationary where my brain can handle it.
- rokhayakebe 11y agoThe part about dilution was interesting. I looked at several tech startup IPO filings and it "appeared" to me that most founders ended up with 4 to 7% in equity. Also in nearly all cases, there is one VC who owns more than 20% of the company.
- durga 11y agoPretty standard in my opinion. Depending on your negotiability, you're going to get diluted 10-40% in every round. Do that a few times, and you can see where one ends up :)
- sahaj 11y agoBetter to have a little piece of a really big pie, than to have a really small pie all by yourself.
- kzhahou 11y agoKinda pathetic though, isn't it? A group of people devote their lives to a product, working round-the-clock for years, and then reap (relatively) tiny rewards compared to the money man.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoHey! You've just described the money-sucking machine that is Silicon Valley.
- harryh 11y agoWhat money man are you referring to exactly? Most of the actual money in these situations comes from massive institutional funds where there is no individual man.
- kzhahou 11y agoThe fund, the firm, and the individuals who led investments. No?
- partiallypro 11y agoI use Waze every day, but I fear that Google will eventually kill off their Windows mobile app because they despise Microsoft. Right now they have just stopped updating it. A shame, really, because it's a solid app.
- sirkneeland 11y agoIt will eventually break once they evolve the server-side APIs enough. Foe example, I doubt the Symbian client still works... The really annoying things is that even after Microsoft makes it painfully easy for Android apps to be brought into Windows 10, Google probably still won't do it.
- FullyFunctional 11y agoMaybe Microsoft should make it painlessly easy instead? I depend on Waze every day and its issues are nothing compared to value it provides. Unfortunately it's not integrated into my Model S so sometimes I drive with both the "native" Model S GPS (= Google Maps) and Waze so I can benefit from the greater maps on the 17" screen as well as the better directions from Waze. It's mighty confusing though.
- aresant 11y agoOne of my closest friends was the founder / CEO of Trapster - Pete Tenereillo - who was crushing Waze for years in total MAU. Trapster was originally positioned @ speed trap avoidance but as they grew to tens-of-millions of users their feature set more closely mirrored Waze (or vice versa?). Trapster was eventually scooped up and killed by Nokia (1), is there any true competitor to Waze @ this point? (1) http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/01/trapster-shutting-down/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/12/01/trapster-shutting-down/
- acdha 11y agoWaze disappoints me because it's a great idea in what appears to be the classic Google death cycle. They haven't added anything in years except for ads, the long-standing UI blemishes are never fixed, and recently the servers have started returning errors regularly, which probably means they're about to discontinue it.
- tomphoolery 11y agoIt makes a lot more sense to roll Waze's features and data into Google Maps, unfortunately...
- jegutman 11y agoHave they really done that though?
- twblalock 11y agoI don't have Waze installed on my phone, and I get alerts in Google Maps that are labeled as coming from Waze, so there is at least some integration.
- Disruptive_Dave 11y agoAt least some. I get alerts from Waze and some of its functionality right in G Maps.
- harel 11y agoJam detection is much better in Google maps now.
- jegutman 11y agoBut I can't get "waze" directions in google maps (where it has me taking awesomely crazy routes). I also don't get notifications about cars on the side of the road which can be quite useful in certain areas.
- somberi 11y agoI would like to give a counterpoint to the opinion that Google Maps' quality has dwindled, from a developing nation perspective from having used it in India, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. Google maps in these countries has easily slipped inside the daily behavior of people in these countries in a way that is heartening to see - Drivers use it, students use it, hotels use it to show the way about town, bus drivers use it. It is amazing how accurate it is in these countries. I am thankful it exists.
- Colliers 11y agoCan you start turn by turn navigation in those countries? In Vietnam, although the maps are more than good enough, you can only preview a route, you can't actually start the route tracking. This is very frustrating if you're on a motorbike where the voice instructions and vibrations would be very useful.
- abenga 11y agoIn Kenya, you can use turn-by-turn navigation on Google Maps, and it works very well, especially within Nairobi. Other towns may not be covered as well (I think), but it works excellently (voice instructions, etc) in guiding you on highways between towns.
- threeseed 11y agoI spent time in Nairobi and Cape Town and Apple Maps was equally good (each were better in some areas). I thought it was quite interesting how quickly Apple has come up to speed. Or maybe how slowly Google has been once they started to dominate.
- harel 11y agoI found waze pretty bad at directing you to your target and pretty amazing at locating jams. I stopped using it for directions when I visit Israel although many people there use it religiously. Google maps on the other hand was great at taking me there, but less so knowing about the road conditions. After the buyout I noticed Google maps gets a lot better at knowing if the road is blocked by traffic and how long a stretch of jammed Road takes to clear. I think that marriage worked well, at least for my driving experience.
- ciconia 11y agoYes, Waze is a religion in Israel, perhaps because traffic conditions there are so unexpected. While on vacation there recently I downloaded the app, but found it unusable. The amount of noise in the UI - alerts, ads, IMs from other drivers - is unbearable. I find that Google Maps is simple, clean, and quite accurate in predicting time to destination. Plus, now it displays traffic jams and incidents signaled by Waze users.
- harel 11y agoAds are also a religion in Israel. But the last place I want to see them is when I'm driving. Turn right here to save 5 shekels on some lotion. No thanks, and now I've missed my turn...
- reacweb 11y agoFor driving near Paris, Waze is incredibly effective. I think it is caused by the mass effect: Paris is a permanent traffic jam and many people are using waze. In less crowded area, data access is not reliable. As a result waze behaves badly, worse than a ordinary GPS with traffic information.