Crowdsourced driving navigation app Waze
is getting a boost from parent company Google at this year’s Mobile
World Congress – the free app is now included in the section of apps
that make up Google Mobile Services, or the pre-installation software
bundle Google offers to smartphone and device OEMs building Android
gadgets.
The GMS designation means that Waze can join the likes of Google
Maps, Hangouts and Google Drive, to name just a few, as something that
appears on Android devices as soon as users power them on. It’s not
surprising, given that the app is now fully owned and operated by
Google, but the fact that the app actually competes in many ways with
Google’s own Maps software does make it an interesting move.
Waze does focus more on real-time turn-by-turn navigation than Maps,
however, and expects a lot more in terms of ongoing user input to report
hazards, traffic slowdowns and more. And pre-installation is a big deal
in terms of engagement, since Waze depends on active users to build its
database of real-time traffic and road information, which also then
feeds back into the main Google app, providing its more general, casual
and sizeable user base with the benefits of all that real-time
reporting.
Pre-installation of Waze is now available to both OEMs and carriers,
but we’ve yet to see anyone offer it out-of-the-box on new devices just
yet. Google has announced that it’s going to be trying out life as a
network operator, with limited forays into MVNO territory starting soon, however, so maybe we’ll see one Waze’s parent company also become one of its first pre-installation partners.
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