[dragonwriter]

Google was, IIRC, the second widely reported suitor after Facebook; I don't see that there's much reason to see it as defensive rather than an acquisition to enhance a major existing offering -- AFAICT, lots of people that preferred Google Maps prior to Waze shifted to Waze, at least for at-the-moment navigation, due to Waze's social features which resulted in better realtime traffic and routing.