14 DAY TRIAL // According to an AFP (Agence France Presse) report, China is about to give Nokia the green light for its Ovi Maps service. Since new rules for mapping services have been unveiled in June, about 26 companies have been given some sort of preliminary approval. If the info is correct Nokia could be the first foreign company to receive the licence to offer online mapping services.
An official at the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, that refused to be named told AFP, "if there is any objection to the published results, we will organise an investigation. Otherwise we will formally approve the companies' applications." He continued by saying that important players on the market such as Google and Microsoft had not submitted their applications yet.
Foreign companies that wish to obtain the licence to offer Internet map and location services in China need to setup joint ventures or partnerships with local companies. We can also speculate that Apple is also interested to provide mapping services in China, since it just acquired online mapping company Poly9. Even though the deal hasn't been officially announced it seems that Cupertino-based company asked Poly9 employees not to disclose the matter.
Moreover, Google stated a few weeks ago that is considering the impact of the new regulations on its mapping services, and that a decision will be taken in the following weeks. At least their licence to operate in China has been renewed, which is a good sign that collaboration between the two has greatly improved. According to China Daily, Google and its Chinese rival search engine Baidu, as well as another local company DDMap, currently account for more than half of the online mapping market in China.
It seems that Nokia is moving faster than its competitors, and if everything goes according to its plans, it will probably set an important foothold on the Internet map and location service market in China.