TomTom shares rise as speculation mounts Apple might make a move

Analyst at Rabobank who covers Apple issued a research note to clients that there is a 30% chance Apple might just snatch TomTom and roll all of its significant navigation expertise into the Maps app.

Samsung might be having fun with the nascent Apple navigation software Down Under, but there rumors flying that Apple has already booked TomTom engineers for collaborating on the Maps improvements to speed up the process, and from there there is only one step into acquiring the whole company, or shelling for some kind of a partnership.

TomTom shares rose as much as 7% today on the news, and are up more than 30% this year. It provides some of the best mapping and navigational services and apps out there, so Apple bagging it would be a huge boost for its own Maps ecosystem at the relatively cheap $1.2 billion market cap TomTom commands now.