Apple Confirms Acquisition of HopStop

It was only a matter of hours after Apple confirmed its acquisition of crowdsourced location data company Locationary that the Cupertino, California-based Mac Maker was once again fielding questions about another new purchase.

It appears that Apple has acquired transit navigation app developer HopStop. Although Apple has confirmed the purchase, it will say little about its future plans for the company. In short, however, the acquisition of HopStop will give Apple the ability to integrate mass transit directions into its embattled Apple Maps.

"Apple Inc. agreed to buy online transit-navigation service HopStop.com Inc., people with knowledge of the deal said, seeking to improve mapping tools after a rocky debut for its directions software last year," Bloomberg reports.

HopStop, based in New York, provides directions for more than 140 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and six other countries, according to its website.

With Apple CEO Tim Cook promising last year to get Apple Maps right following its disastrous debut, it certainly is no coincidence that Locationary and HopStop have been acquired so closely together. Apple is definitely on the move with maps and looking to make fast and sweeping improvements.

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