Google has purchased Waze

Google announced in a blog post today that it is acquiring social traffic company Waze. This announcement is not surprising as Google was rumored to be close to inking a deal with the Israeli startup. Google was one of many suitors reportedly courting Waze -- earlier rumors hinted at a potential deal with Apple, but that rumor was shot down. More recently, Facebook was supposedly looking to add the company to its coffers.

According to Google, Waze will remain in Israel and operate as an independent company for the time being. Google will eventually bring some of Waze's community-sourced traffic information to Google Maps and will add Google's powerful search engine capabilities to Waze. Presumably, the Waze iOS app will keep chugging along, but there is no word what will happen to Waze's contribution to Apple Maps.