When will waze go Payware?

[marioval]

Maybe I am just cynical and negative but Nav4All went from free to pay, AmazeGPS went from free to pay. Since Waze is way better than both of those I figure it's just a matter of time before waze realizes they can profit from such a great app by charging for its use.

[zzyzxuk]

I doubt they will. Firstly , it goes against their model. Second, there's other free GPS out there, and I doubt anyone would actually pay. Thirdly, if they do, I hope I get a BIG discount... <G>

[Hellek]

Amaze and Nav4All need to get there map-data from somewhere, I think it is safe to assume that they themselves were actually paying all the time, eventhough they provided their services for free to their end-users. Navteq sure isn't giving map-data out for free.

Waze on the other side does not pay for map-data since it is user-generated. I think they hope to make money by selling map-data or other information they gather. Or maybe by selling extras that enhance the basic features. They wouldn't stand a chance if basic wazing would cost money and I think they know that.

My personal assessment of the threat of losing access to Waze:
- Waze going out of business: Medium
- Waze not being free any more: Very low

[sketch]

You are seeing those guys go to pay from free, and I am watching MotionX GPS Drive and CoPilot Live Directions go cheaper and, in CoPilot's case, from $35 to free.

[Lemon]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2325

Noam, the Waze CEO responded to the same question in the above thread.

[alphaaggeek]

Amaze and Nav4All need to get there map-data from somewhere...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 28-01-2010 16:30 GMT+1

Subject: Nav4All navigation shut down by Navteq

Letter to 27,625,631 Nav4All navigation customers

Dear Customers,

It is with the deepest regret that we hereby notify you that the global navigation of Nav4All and the Tracking & Tracing will go offline in 3 days. The reason for the same is that the data licence agreement with Navteq (a 100% Nokia subsidiary) was not extended, in a totally unexpected manner. It is not possible to implement data from another supplier in our Nav4All systems within the short term. The Nav4All navigation system was developed for Navteq data. Nav4All has therefore been constrained to stop.