Apple Acquires Canadian Startup Locationary To Boost Apple Maps – Report

Apple has reportedly acquired Canadian business listing startup Locationary with the intent of improving its less than popular Apple Maps application.

Multiple sources have told AllThingsD that a deal for the Toronto-based company has been concluded, although it was unable to discover the financial terms of the takeover.

Apple has cryptically only said that it acquires smaller companies for time to time and does not comment on such purchases.

Apple Maps

Locationary is described as a “Wikipedia for local business listings.” It uses crowdsourcing and a data platform called Saturn to collect and continuously update a database of local businesses information.

Such a dynamic database should reduce the likelihood of location information being out of date and improve Apple Maps, which has endured a troubled existence since it was launched last September.

Google Maps had been the maps provider to iOS ever since the first iPhone was released in 2007, but for iOS 6 Apple chose to replace the popular service with its own system.  It has been widely panned by users, who have reported numerous inaccuracies, missing towns and businesses as well as the discovery of famous locations in bodies of water.

CEO Tim Cook even took the extraordinary measure of apologising to users, suggesting that they even switch to a rival service. He did promise that the application would improve and it would keep on working until it reached the expected standard.

Apple Maps’ main rival remains Google Maps, with its iOS application receiving a major update earlier this week.

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