There have been people sitting around a watercooler somewhere, who have overheard the chatter of Apple replacing Google Maps in iOS 6 with an "in-house" maps application. The rumor isn't just a statement, it comes with some juicy nuggets, too.

These nuggets come in the form of silent acquisitions by Apple of Placebase, C3 and Poly9, what do all of these companies have in common? They're all mapping companies.

The original iPhone smashed into the market in 2008 and since then has had Google Maps as their default "Maps" app in iOS. Just recently, the Curpentino-based company dropped Google Maps in their iPhone app, but why? Could this rumor be something that would eventually create itself into reality?

Google have recently started to monetize Google Maps, that would piss Apple off. As well as the fact that Google have recently changed their terms of service, so that developers who use Google Maps in their projects and receive more than 25,000 views per month must pay a premium.

As usual, more news on this as it comes.