Nokia to provide satnav for free

 

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Posted on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:59

Nokia has announced that certain compatible smartphones will give their owners free navigation forever.

The company will release a new version of Ovi Maps for its smartphones that includes walking and driving navigation at no extra cost, available for download at www.nokia.com/maps. The software will include turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries, in 46 languages, plus traffic information for more than 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for more than 180 countries.

The move is sure to be unpopular with satnav manufacturers such as TomTom and Garmin. Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Nokia explained, "Why have multiple devices that work that work in only one country or region? Put it all together, make it free, make it global and you almost double the potential size of the mobile navigation market".

"Nokia is the only company with a mobile navigation service for both drivers and pedestrians that works across the world. Unlike the legacy car navigation manufacturers, we don't make you buy maps for different countries or regions even if you're only visiting for a few days. We offer both navigation and maps free of charge, with all the high-end functionality and features that people now expect."

Of course, Nokia has its reasons for providing navigation for free. For one, it instantly gains a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services.

According to research firm Canalys, the number of people worldwide using GPS navigation on their mobile phones was approximately 27 million at the end of 2009. This will increase to about 50 million with Nokia's announcement, which comes on the back of the firm's acquisition of mapping company Navteq.

"This is a game changing move...we can now put a complete navigation system in the palm of your hand, wherever in the world you are, whenever you need it - and at no extra cost," continued Anssi Vanjoki. "By adding cameras at no extra cost to our phones we quickly became the biggest camera manufacturer in the world. The aim of the new Ovi Maps is to enable us to do the same for navigation."

Ovi Maps is immediately available for download for 10 Nokia handsets, including the popular N97 mini, 5800 XpressMusic. E52, E72, E55, 5230, 6710, 6730 and X6, with more Nokia smartphones expected to be added soon. In the meantime, current owners of Nokia smartphones that are compatible with the new Ovi Maps can download it free of charge from www.nokia.com/maps.

Author: Jim Martin