John Paczkowski and Liz Gannes

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Apple Confirms HopStop Acquisition

hopstop_screensLooks like Apple’s recent purchase of crowdsourced location data company Locationary was part of a twofer mapping acquisition. The company also acquired online transit-navigation appmaker HopStop. HopStop’s area of cartographic expertise: Mass transit directions, something Apple’s mapping service doesn’t currently offer.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said, confirming the acquisition with Cupertino’s standard boilerplate.

At last count, HopStop had two million monthly active users and launched a Waze-like service for reporting real-time delays and other information.

Founded in 2005, the company makes apps for both Apple and Android that cover more than 300 cities. In addition to public transit, it includes walking, biking and taxi options — basically, everything but driving yourself.

News of the deal was first reported by Bloomberg.

HopStop was one of the companies we mentioned as part of a larger feature earlier today on the possibilities for mobile crowdsourcing after Google bought Waze.

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