I think the best bet would be for Apple to buy foursquare [sic], the mobile check-in service started by my close friend Dennis Crowley. It's got everything Apple needs for its maps and more. With foursquare in maps, you could not only get directions, but tips on what to do when you reach your destination and deals from merchants. Your friends could learn where you are heading and when you expect to arrive. It would be a revolution in checking-in and a revolution in maps.
Apple certainly has the cash to buy foursquare. I'm sure the owners of foursquare would even be amenable to a cash and equity deal, since many of the foursquare investors, founders and employees are fans of Apple, both as a company and as a product.
(Read more: Why Apple’s Still the Cheapest Stock on the Market)
(Full disclosure: I'm friends with a lot of the people involved with foursquare, including the founders. If Apple bought them, my friends would be fabulously wealthy and I'd occasionally expect them to spring for drinks at our local watering hole. Although, come to think of it, post-Apple acquisition they may be too fancy to have drinks down at Tom & Jerry's. Oh, well.)
- by CNBC.com senior editor John Carney
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How Other Smart-Phone Stocks Stand:
AT&T
Verizon
Research in Motion
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