Cupertino (ip-192.com): Apple and Google continue to drift away. News that Apple quietly acquired Placebase, a company that develops APIs used for mapping, is the latest sign of an increasing rift.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple's acquisition actually took place this past July, and a founder of a partner company that was using Placebase maps tweeted about it. However, nobody noticed the news until Computerworld dug up Placebase CEO Jaron Waldman's LinkedIn profile just to learn that he is now part of the "Geo Team" at Apple.
Why is this important? The timeline of the acquisition coincides with the time Google’s Eric Schmidt stepped down from Apple’s board of directors. The location-based service Apple inherited with the purchase of Placebase could eventually allow the company to move away from its dependency on Google Maps. If you add Apple’s rejection of the Google Voice and Google Latitude apps, one could see a roadmap behind Apple’s decisions. Consider that Google did help Apple to build the entire Maps application, and you can imagine why Eric Schmidt stepped down from Apple’s board.
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