Is Apple taking on Google in the mapping arena?  Has Apple
purchased a mapping company to compete with Google? If
ComputerWorld's Seth Weintraub is to be believed the answer is a
resounding "yes".  Weintraub first discovered evidence in a July
tweet by Fred Falonde, the founder of, that Apple purchased
PlaceBase, a business that produces a mapping API called Pushpin
and offers a mapping service very similar to Google's.  After
letting the story lie dormant for the last few months, Weintraub
did some investigating of PlaceBase's founder and CEO, Jaron
Waldman. According to Weintraub, Waldman's LinkedIn page lists
his stint at PlaceBase as past experience, with his current
occupation being a member of Apple's GEO team. What that
actually means remains to be discovered, and Waldman's LinkedIn
page is no longer viewable publicly.  To top off this mounting
pile of evidence, both and have been taken offline.  Could this
explain why Apple forced Google's mobile Latitude application
for the iPhone to be a web-based a