There’s of speculation (and many conspiracy theories) about Apple’s purchase of a small mapping company Placebase earlier this year. Placebase had a product called Pushpin, which was a competitor to Google Maps essentially. Pushpin still exists; the product is now being operated by Urban Mapping.
Former Placebase CEO Jaron Waldman is now at Apple, with most of his team — on the “geo team.” I spoke to Waldman at some length a week ago at the Metaplaces event and have known him casually for awhile. Wisely he wouldn’t talk extensively about what he’s doing except to say that he liked being at Apple and that it was a really interesting place.
It’s pretty clear that Apple values geo/location/maps. It’s also clear that Apple considers Google a competitor. So there’s logic behind some of the conspiracy theorists’ statements that Apple may be gearing up at some point to replace Google Maps or have its own proprietary offering. But the geo team, I’ll wager, is about much more than simply maps and Apple already has some patents in the area, which they’re probably working on building out.
Screenwerk 
October 2, 2009 at 2:03 pm
What did Apple pay for Placebase?
October 2, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Undisclosed. Probably not tons and tons. It appears to mainly be a move to get the people.
October 2, 2009 at 3:53 pm
[…] do you think? Do you think this will upset Apple? Do you think that Apple will bounce Google (as many do) from its central mapping role on the […]
October 2, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Although I don’t have an iPhone, my guide and I saw Ads intermittently on his phone while Fly Fishing in Utah last year.
Might these be a few of the reasons why Apple bought Coverflow and Placebace?
October 2, 2009 at 5:53 pm
oops – that was supposed to go over here:
https://gesterling.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/who-owns-maps-on-the-iphone/