Nokia makes drive navigation free on smartphones

Nokia announced plans to make walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones as part of a new version of Ovi Maps,available for download at the Nokia website.

Nokia announced plans to make walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones as part of a new version of Ovi Maps,available for download at the Nokia website. Nokias mapping and navigation software has been specifically designed for mobile use and is based on unique hybrid technology.

The new version of Ovi Maps will include all essential car and pedestrian navigation features,such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages,and traffic information for over 10 countries,as well as detailed maps for over 180 countries.

We want to make using your mobile for navigation as familiar as using it to send a text or take a picture. We believe that making the best maps with voice guided navigation available for free will be the catalyst to do this, explained Anssi Vanjoki,Executive Vice President,Nokia.

According to D Shivakumar,Managing Director,Nokia India,This is a strategic move that will be the game-changer for the industry. We believe that offering the worlds best maps with full navigation features and premium content at no extra cost will be the catalyst that drives mass market and penetration of mobile maps in India.

This move has the potential to nearly double the size of the current mobile navigation market. For Nokia,removing the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians allows the company to quickly activate a massive user base to which it can offer new location features,content and services.

This is part of Nokias strategy to lead the market in mobile maps,navigation and location-based services. The move is also in line with Nokias vision that the next wave of growth will be centered on the location-aware,social internet 8212; as the where people are doing things becomes as important as the what they are doing.

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. With this announcement Nokia potentially grows the size of this installed user base to about 50 million by enabling smartphone owners,with compatible devices and devices that will be made compatible shortly to activate free drive and walk navigation through a simple download of the new Ovi Maps.

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Nokia will further grow this base as it quickly adds more smartphones to the compatible devices list. Canalys also estimated in 2009 that the installed base of smartphones with integrated GPS was 163 million units worldwide,of which Nokia accounted for more than half 51 having shipped cumulatively 83 million GPS devices.