Microsoft invested millions in GPS-social network Waze?

File this under: interesting

For those who were on Windows Mobile, you may remember a little app called 'Waze' (see here). The app combined GPS, traffic and a social network for voice-guided turn-by-turn directions as well as user-submitted reports on traffic, accidents, etc. A neat idea that has resulted in 4.5 million users (see iPhone, Android and yet something we haven't seen on Windows Phone.

That may all change though as Microsoft (and others) have reportedly invested $25 million into the company back in December of 2010--yeah, that's quite awhile ago. It's not clear how much of that $25 million came from Microsoft, but it is possible that it's a significant chunk. [Skepticism alert: Waze announced this on their blog back in December too and no one noticed because Microsoft was not named. Take that as you will.]

Assuming this is true, we've seen Microsoft do this a lot recently (see Skype, Nokia, Canesta and GeoVector) and it makes sense that Microsoft could want to license Waze's data and network for Windows Phone. But lets not get ahead of ourselves as that hasn't been announced. But like the say in the movies....follow the money.

Source: The Marker, via BGR, Thanks, Vanessa

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and wearable tech. He has reviewed laptops for over 10 years and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, Arm64 processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, performed polysomnographs in NYC, and was a motion-picture operator for 17 years.