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Google Maps gains users while Waze loses them. Is Google Maps deliberately doing this? | Vlad Ispas/Shuttestock
Waze seems to have reached a point where it is no longer relevant. It doesn’t make sense, and many people wonder why Google paid $1,3 billion for it back in 2013. Google Maps is used by nearly 2 billion people today. It’s growing. Waze now has 140 million users. This is almost 400 millions fewer than it was a few short years ago. It is fading.
I’m just a gossip. Waze was owned by Google and had 100 employees. Each employee received an average of $1.2M, making it the highest payout in Israeli high-tech.
Google’s purchase of Waze in 2006 was the most expensive consumer app ever purchased. It was a major event for all the Israeli techies behind the map app. Uri Levine stated as much in Forbes. published In June 2023.
Was selling Waze a mistake?
Levine believes Waze was worth more money two years ago because it had 100 times as many users and 10 times the revenue in 2013 than it does today.
The Israeli technology expert also revealed a little history which might surprise some. Yahoo twice rejected the purchase of Google, each time for less than $5million. Google’s current market capitalisation is 2.25 trillion dollars.
He mentions this because someone asked him if selling Waze was a good idea. He mulls over the question and ponders it before stating that it’s hard to say. He does say that Waze will have 650 million downloads in 2023 and is “definitely” the most popular and loved app. Waze is used by many people every time they drive.
Levine, however recapitulates his statement and acknowledges that “many others claim it’s no longer as good as it was.”
‘Waze no longer makes sense’
Why is autoevolution important? now saying The claim is that “Waze makes little sense anymore” and Google Maps has become a Waze killer in terms of user experience with the addition of incident reporting.
If you ask Android Police, they’ll say Waze can be useful if you already have a destination in mind, but just need to get a quick look at it. Google Maps is the best option if you are looking to discover new destinations, or if you just want to know more about your destination.
Waze, while remaining an independent entity continues to add features that set it apart from other navigation systems. It continues to focus on crowdsourcing traffic reports and other features.
Google Maps on the other side, continues in its obvious expansion, remaining as the all-in one navigation app, offering state-of the-art world exploration, business information, detailed maps, in almost every country in the globe.
Live on borrowed Time
Auto Evolution says that Waze is outdated and that Google Maps offers the best features with less clutter.
Auto Evolution said that it is unclear whether Google has considered a merger between the two apps. However, given the direction Google Maps has taken and the number users who could leave Waze, I wouldn’t surprise if the company looked into this option.
A merger is what is most likely to occur and has already begun in 2023. Google Maps laid off Waze workers as it integrated Waze mapping features into its own platform. CTECH reported that Waze was a “stepchild” within Google in 2022. Google purchased the app as an incubator of innovation and ideas. CTEC said that Google did not invest in promoting the app and instead focused on attracting users to Google Maps. Now, the app is living off borrowed time after being folded into Geo Group. wrote.
Waze has grown from 650 millions users in 2023 to a staggering 1.2 billion today has only Google Maps is ranked first with 1.8billion users.
