Apple acquires transit app Embark
Jessica Lessin, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, reports that Apple has acquired the transit app Embark. Lessin writes that Embark's technology will be "directly integrated" into Apple Maps.
Embark, founded in 2011, builds apps for mobile devices powered by Android and Apple's iOS with information about transit systems in about half a dozen US cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Its iOS apps are still available for download, but its Android apps aren't, according to our checks.
The Embark acquisition marks the latest effort from Apple to shore up its Mapping team as it pertains to public transit. Most recently, Apple purchased HopStop, a public transit app with mapping information across hundreds of cities.
When Apple first released its homegrown Maps app in iOS 6, one of the app's notable shortcomings was the lack of integrated public transit directions. (At the time, we spoke to Embark founder David Hodge about the corresponding surge in usage he saw after the iOS 6 change.) With Apple's recent mapping acquisitions, we can only hope that Apple is working hard to address this in future iterations Apple Maps.
Apple confirmed the acquisition with Lessin, trotting out its favored statement whenever it acquires a new company: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
[via TNW]
