Three German carmakers reportedly in talks to buy Nokia’s Here mapping service

Audi, BMW, and Daimler are reportedly in talks with Nokia to buy the company’s mapping service. The deal is estimated to be worth over US$2.71 billion. A source told The Wall Street Journal that Nokia has been talking exclusively with these three car manufacturers. The agreement could be signed within the next few days.

There is a possibility though that the car companies might invite other brands to buy stakes in this. According to the source, the goal is to make the service an open platform for everyone. So they don’t have to rely on third-party platforms like Garmin and Google. Uber was supposedly in talks to buy Here but they gave up on bidding several weeks back. Another possible outcome of the takeover is it’ll help companies develop self-driving cars.

Source: The Wall Street Journal | Via: Apple Insider

Microsoft buys Wunderlist

Productivity software company Wunderlist just got acquired by Microsoft, according to Founder and CEO Christian Reber in a post on Wunderlist’s site. He didn’t specify how much it cost the Redmond-based tech giant to acquire their brand. It looks like things won’t be changing at the moment though. Reber said that their team in Berlin will continue to build Wunderlist, Wunderlist Pro, and Wunderlist for Business on platforms like iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows, and the web. He also promises that new features will be added in the future.

Source: Wunderlist

MSI denies Lenovo buyout

Rumours have been swirling for a while that Lenovo plans to buy MSI. But now MSI is out to set the record straight. MSI President Andy Tung said they aren't in talks with Lenovo to sell their gaming notebook business. Lenovo won't comment on the story but MSI seems to be taking it quite seriously. They want to find the source and even sue them.

Source: PC World

Apple acquires Coherent Navigation for precision GPS mapping

Perhaps Apple is looking to improve its mapping services with its latest purchase. The tech giant just bought Coherent Navigation, a company specializing in High Integrity GPS. We don’t know exactly what Apple plans to do with the company because they won’t disclose details about it. According to MacRumors though, some Coherent employees have been moving to Apple so it could be an acquisition both for talent and technology.

This isn’t Apple’s first purchase of a mapping company though. They’ve bought companies like Placebase, Hopstop, Locationary, and Embark.

Source: MacRumors + Slash Gear