Apples Paid $1.1 Billion To This Nigerian’s For His App

In a bid to shore up its mobile and
Web mapping infrastructure, Apple
has confirmed a purchase of
Nigerian entrepreneur Chinedu
Echeruo‘s (pictured) HopStop.com
application. With Google buying
the Israel-based Waze map
application for a reported $1.1
billion, it has been rumored that
HopStop’s acquisition was worth a
similar amount. But thus far, Apple
has not revealed the terms of the
deal.
As reported by the Wall Street
Journal’s “All Things Digital” blog,
HopStop empowers Apple’s map
program by providing access to a
portion of the mapping landscape
it had yet to cover: mass transit
directions. The move has been
seen by many analysts as the tech-
giant’s largest push to compete
with the industry-leading Google
Maps service. In fact, Google has
been providing map data to Apple
since 2007.
As an entrepreneur, Echeruo has
founded both HopStop and
Tripology, after stints working as
an analyst for J.P. Morgan Chase.
Echeruo also made his mark in the
hedge fund world, working for AM
Investment Partners for a time.
Echeruo grew up in Eastern
Nigeria and was a student at Kings
College in Lagos. He later came to
the States to attend Syracuse
University and Harvard Business
School before founding his
businesses.
Although the sale of HopStop.com
should be lucrative as expected,
Echeruo has no intentions of
becoming a boardroom fat rat. He
is already at work on another
small business with a focus on
working with companies in his
homeland.
HopStop is based in New York and
provides door-to-door subway
and public transit directions in 140
metropolitan areas in iOS,
Android, and web formats. In
2011, it was named one of the top
100 fastest-growing software
companies.