Nokia announced today that Rogers Wireless, Canada's largest mobile carrier, is the first to offer the Nokia Maps and N-Gage services to Canadian customers. Both services are available for some time now in Europe, the US and on other markets, but Canada just did not get the chance to have them.

When using Nokia Maps, you can enjoy an advanced car navigation system that features turn-by-turn, voice and visual guidance. Also, paired with GPS and Location Based Services, Nokia Maps allows users to easily navigate around the world as well as in their home city. The Maps cover more than 160 countries as well as millions of POIs (points of interest).

Nokia's N-Gage, on the other hand, is all about fun. The N-Gage platform lets you easily browse, find and play a wide range of mobile games. You can connect to other players (via N-Gage Arena), meet new people, chat, participate in exciting tournaments and so on.

Talking about the new services, Richard White, general manager and head of country operations for Nokia Canada, said, "The Canadian telecom market is going through tremendous change and consumers are increasingly demanding advanced multimedia devices and services. Through this agreement with Rogers we are excited to deliver on that need, offering consumers compelling experiences on Nokia's devices delivered over Rogers' wireless high-speed network".

John Boynton, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Rogers Wireless, added, "This agreement with Nokia gives Rogers customers a rich mobile gaming experience that is unique in the marketplace and an unparalleled mobile mapping application. It makes tremendous business sense for Rogers because these are two of the most in-demand applications for mobile devices."

Nokia Maps and N-Gage are currently offered in Canada only via Nokia N95 8GB, the high-end Symbian S60 smartphone. Available in Canada exclusively from Rogers, the N95 8GB is offered for as low as 199.99 CAD (187 USD), together with a contract agreement for three years. Users interested in reading a comprehensive review of the N95 8GB can do it at this address.