14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has just announced that it plans on delivering a new version of Ovi Maps for its smartphones, one that will provide high-end walk and drive navigation at no cost. According to the company, the new move is expected to “nearly double the size of the current mobile navigation market.” At the same time, it also notes that the new version of Ovi Maps includes high-end car and pedestrian navigation features, with voice guidance in 46 languages, for 74 countries, and detailed maps for over 180 countries.
“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,” explained Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president, Nokia. “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.”
According to Nokia, the removal of cost associated with the Ovi Maps will offer it the possibility to greatly increase its user base, as well as to offer new location features, content and services to all owners of a Nokia mobile phone. At the same time, the company says that the new move has been driven by its belief that the future growth of the mobile market will be centered around location-aware, social Internet, given the fact that both the “where” and “what” people are doing have become very important.
“This is a game changing move. By leveraging our NAVTEQ acquisition, and our context sensitive service offering, 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.”
The Ovi Maps are already available for download for ten Nokia smartphones, including popular devices like the Nokia N97mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia E72, (Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia E52, Nokia E55, Nokia 5230, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 6730 classic and Nokia X6 also support Ovi Maps) and the company says that more handsets will be added to the list in the following weeks. For the time being, those who own a device compatible with Ovi Maps can head over to the company's website to download the solution for free.