The main entrance to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple has agreed to buy Locationary in a quest to bolster its mapping services, the latest acquisition to outline a heated rivalry with Google.
Toronto-based Locationary's technology promises to improve search and navigation results for mobile apps as well as increase advertising and commerce performance.
Apple confirmed the deal Friday. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in a statement.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Apple's launch of its own maps service last year in a bid to unseat Google's service on its devices was a spectacular flop. Directions to locations were incomplete, building and monuments were out of place, as was information about public transportation glaringly missing. Consumer reaction to Apple's mapping fiasco was so bad that CEO Tim Cook issued a rare apology
"Apple needs to sort of shore up their map product if they are going to compete long-term with Google and other technology companies. Adding this in will help make their maps more accurate," says Gartner analyst Brian Blau.
Google last month agreed to acquire Waze, a crowd-sourced mapping startup, in a transaction reported to be valued at $1 billion. Waze's roughly 50 million users contribute real-time traffic data that helps improve mapping around traffic.
"Locationary's speciality - enhanced local business data - will be a great addition to Apple's Maps application, since outdated business location and status information is the bane of any map service's operations," says Brian Proffitt, an instructor at the University of Notre Dame.
Shares of Apple fell $4.16, or 1%, at $427.60 in midday trading.
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