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Nokia is taking the dramatic step of making its satellite navigation software free to all current and future owners of its smartphones as the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer intensifies its fight against Apple's iPhone and handsets using Google's Android platform.
The Finnish company, which makes roughly four out of every 10 phones sold worldwide, spent €6.5bn (£5.6bn) on map firm Navteq in 2007, but from today will let anyone with a GPS-enabled Nokia device – such as its N95 or N97 handsets – download its navigation service and maps for free from its Ovi mobile application store. To date, Nokia has sold more than 80m compatible handsets worldwide.
Full satnav direction services – for both road users and pedestrians – will be available across 70 countries from today, with extensive maps available in more than 100 others.
The move is likely to infuriate satnav companies such as Garmin and TomTom, which charge up to £100 for in-car satellite navigation systems and will see their market effectively undercut by Nokia. It will also threaten companies that currently charge for downloadable satnav mobile phone applications – such as US-based ALK Technologies, whose CoPilot UK product currently costs £26.99 for iPhone users.
Nokia executive vice president Anssi Vanjoki denied that the decision to give its satnav service away for free is a defensive move against companies such as Google, which are increasingly encroaching on the company's turf.
"It is a very offensive move if you will," he said. "We are not talking one product for one country, we are talking map coverage in 183 countries, launching simultaneously globally in 76 countries with 46 languages and with millions of devices already out there, plus with all of our new products being equipped with this. So it does not sound too much like defence to me."
But giving away sophisticated turn-by-turn car and pedestrian satnav direction services to entice customers to choose one of its smartphones over devices such as the iPhone and Google's Nexus One is symptomatic of Nokia's desperation to get back into the high-end mobile phone market.
The company has seen its share of the lucrative smartphone market come under sustained attack. It was slow to create a viable touchscreen rival to the iPhone while bitter rival Rim has successfully moved its BlackBerry line of mobile devices from the boardroom to the classroom, enticing a new generation of younger users. There have also been successful touchscreen launches by Samsung, which has already overtaken Nokia in the UK market. After more than two years of development, Google's Android platform is starting to become a major force in the mobile market.
Google recently unveiled its first own-branded Android device, the Nexus One, to rave reviews. The internet company already has an extensive maps business and offers turn-by-turn directions in the US.
Outside North America it relies upon mapping data from Tele Atlas, owned by TomTom, and is not able to give full satnav services. But it is rumoured to be building up its own maps database outside the US with a view to launching turn-by-turn direction services at some point.
Vanjoki also denied that the dramatic volte-face suggests that the company now thinks Navteq is worthless. "Quite the contrary," he said. "Right now, what is happening is we are unleashing all this power based on the Navteq acquisition which will help Nokia in three different ways: first of all this becomes a tremendous average sales price defender for our products because it will be completely unique – there is nothing similar available from anyone else; secondly this will be a demonstration of the capabilities and precision of the Navteq maps, so their business will be improved; and thirdly, there are all these developers that are developing applications based on the quality of the maps and then we can distribute those through Ovi store which is another business opportunity for us."
Nokia is also making its maps available to any third party developer that wishes to build applications on top of them. These applications will be sold through the Ovi store and already Nokia is offering its customers free Lonely Planet and Michelin Guide information on its maps.
"It becomes a giant environment for mash-ups," Vanjoki said. "Where people can deliver new applications and immediately they will have a huge customer base available to them".
Nokia's maps service also allows people to share their location with friends on Facebook, adding pictures and status updates. Its maps also include information about local attractions and events within walking distance of a user's location through a deal with San Francisco-based local information aggregator Wcities, which has data for over 350 cities worldwide.
Nokia will still allow other satnav companies to use Navteq's data for their services. Navteq's maps, for instance, are used by Garmin.
By Richard Wray, communications editor
Nokia to give away satnav software | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Nokia is taking the dramatic step of making its satellite navigation software free to all current and future owners of its smartphones as the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer intensifies its fight against Apple's iPhone and handsets using Google's Android platform.
The Finnish company, which makes roughly four out of every 10 phones sold worldwide, spent €6.5bn (£5.6bn) on map firm Navteq in 2007, but from today will let anyone with a GPS-enabled Nokia device – such as its N95 or N97 handsets – download its navigation service and maps for free from its Ovi mobile application store. To date, Nokia has sold more than 80m compatible handsets worldwide.
Full satnav direction services – for both road users and pedestrians – will be available across 70 countries from today, with extensive maps available in more than 100 others.
The move is likely to infuriate satnav companies such as Garmin and TomTom, which charge up to £100 for in-car satellite navigation systems and will see their market effectively undercut by Nokia. It will also threaten companies that currently charge for downloadable satnav mobile phone applications – such as US-based ALK Technologies, whose CoPilot UK product currently costs £26.99 for iPhone users.
Nokia executive vice president Anssi Vanjoki denied that the decision to give its satnav service away for free is a defensive move against companies such as Google, which are increasingly encroaching on the company's turf.
"It is a very offensive move if you will," he said. "We are not talking one product for one country, we are talking map coverage in 183 countries, launching simultaneously globally in 76 countries with 46 languages and with millions of devices already out there, plus with all of our new products being equipped with this. So it does not sound too much like defence to me."
But giving away sophisticated turn-by-turn car and pedestrian satnav direction services to entice customers to choose one of its smartphones over devices such as the iPhone and Google's Nexus One is symptomatic of Nokia's desperation to get back into the high-end mobile phone market.
The company has seen its share of the lucrative smartphone market come under sustained attack. It was slow to create a viable touchscreen rival to the iPhone while bitter rival Rim has successfully moved its BlackBerry line of mobile devices from the boardroom to the classroom, enticing a new generation of younger users. There have also been successful touchscreen launches by Samsung, which has already overtaken Nokia in the UK market. After more than two years of development, Google's Android platform is starting to become a major force in the mobile market.
Google recently unveiled its first own-branded Android device, the Nexus One, to rave reviews. The internet company already has an extensive maps business and offers turn-by-turn directions in the US.
Outside North America it relies upon mapping data from Tele Atlas, owned by TomTom, and is not able to give full satnav services. But it is rumoured to be building up its own maps database outside the US with a view to launching turn-by-turn direction services at some point.
Vanjoki also denied that the dramatic volte-face suggests that the company now thinks Navteq is worthless. "Quite the contrary," he said. "Right now, what is happening is we are unleashing all this power based on the Navteq acquisition which will help Nokia in three different ways: first of all this becomes a tremendous average sales price defender for our products because it will be completely unique – there is nothing similar available from anyone else; secondly this will be a demonstration of the capabilities and precision of the Navteq maps, so their business will be improved; and thirdly, there are all these developers that are developing applications based on the quality of the maps and then we can distribute those through Ovi store which is another business opportunity for us."
Nokia is also making its maps available to any third party developer that wishes to build applications on top of them. These applications will be sold through the Ovi store and already Nokia is offering its customers free Lonely Planet and Michelin Guide information on its maps.
"It becomes a giant environment for mash-ups," Vanjoki said. "Where people can deliver new applications and immediately they will have a huge customer base available to them".
Nokia's maps service also allows people to share their location with friends on Facebook, adding pictures and status updates. Its maps also include information about local attractions and events within walking distance of a user's location through a deal with San Francisco-based local information aggregator Wcities, which has data for over 350 cities worldwide.
Nokia will still allow other satnav companies to use Navteq's data for their services. Navteq's maps, for instance, are used by Garmin.
By Richard Wray, communications editor
Nokia to give away satnav software | Technology | guardian.co.uk
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