Facebook Might Snatch Another Company from Apple

loves buying expensive companies -- particularly those that

is also interested in obtaining.

Before acquiring Instagram for $1 billion, Apple was rumored to be

. While this report has never been confirmed, the thought is that Apple wanted to use Instagram to bolster iOS -- and specifically sales of future iPhones. It is not hard to imagine how this would work. Apple could have used Instagram to enhance its

, and tease the fact that users can quickly alter and stylize images with a single touch. Some might argue that this would have been the perfect iPhone gimmick -- the kind of app that Apple could have used to sell the iPhone 5. After all, if Apple had purchased Instagram more than a year ago as rumored, it could have maintained the app's iOS exclusivity by cancelling the Android version before it was even released. That might have been bad for Instagram's short-term growth prospects, but it could have been huge for Apple.

of Instagram's 100 million users are on Android. If Apple had kept Instagram for itself, the company could have used its

to lure customers away from Android. Apple was not willing to pay $1 billion, however, so Facebook won out. Now the social media giant is looking to spend another billion on

acquisition. The new target is

, a community-based traffic and navigation app for iOS and Android. Investors may remember Waze for its

about Apple after the company failed to deliver a reliable mapping application for iOS 6. Despite the negative comments, Apple was rumored to be interested in Waze's technology. With a rumored price tag of $500 million, Apple would have paid less for Waze than Facebook paid for Instagram. Now that Waze has passed the Apple test (in which a company is good enough to consider but not actually good enough to buy), it seems that Facebook is willing to take the plunge. According to

, Facebook is willing to pay $1 billion for Waze. Sound familiar? Apparently the key to a successful buyout is to start by getting Apple's attention and then run over to Facebook and ask for $1 billion.