Nokia offers free Ovi Maps to smartphones globally

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Not to be outdone by Google's free GPS navigation on Android phones, Nokia is offering its robust Ovi Maps turn-by-turn GPS navigation for all compatible smartphones at no charge.

What's more, in the spirit of one-upmanship, Nokia's app/service covers 74 countries in 46 languages; Google only covers the US and is only offered in English.

Also included in Nokia's application are walk and drive navigation, turn-by-turn voice guidance with lane assistance, plus traffic information in 10 of the supported countries including the US and Canada. The real kicker: Nokia's Ovi Maps solution works offline, no need for a continuing and often costly data plan.

And while Google's free smartphone GPS solution was the first out of the gate, it is as yet only available in a small number of devices running the latest Android 2.1 software.

Nokia's Ovi Maps-ready devices include the N97 mini (pictured), 5800 XpressMusic, 5800 Navigato, e52, E55, E72, 5230, 6710 Navigator, 6730 Classic and X6. And by the end of this month, Nokia's flagship phone, the N97 will also run the new Ovi Maps 3.03 application following a firmware update. 

Nokia acquired navigation mapping giant NAVTEQ in 2007 and quickly beefed up its navigation software. NAVTEQ provides the maps and technology for Yahoo! Maps, Bing Maps, MapQuest, Garmin, Magellan and Lowrance as well as 85 per cent of car navigation solutions. That Ovi Maps is pervasive is an understatement. That it's now free, everywhere, forever, a bonus. 

Update on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 9:39AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

New Ovi Maps with free navigation races past 1 million downloads in a week 

ESPOO – Nokia has  announced that since the launch of the new version of Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation, on Thursday 21 January 2010 just one week after the launch, there have been over 1.4 million downloads. The one million mark was reached already at the end of last week. "We're averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia. "When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer. The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted." 

The success of the new version Ovi Maps is a key part of Nokia's strategy to lead the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services. By leveraging its investment in NAVTEQ, Nokia has been able to remove the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians and is quickly activating a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services. 

"This is great news for our 3rd party application developers. Within a matter of days there is an installed base of more than 1 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps," continued Anssi Vanjoki. "For the operators too there is a growing opportunity to sell more data-plans and a complete navigation package to existing and new customers." 

As of 31 January 2010 the top five countries downloading the new version of Ovi Maps were: China, Italy, UK, Germany and Spain. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the download were: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, Nokia 5230 and Nokia E72. 

"There is a huge appetite for GPS navigation on mobile phones. We estimate there were already 25.9 million people actively using GPS navigation on their mobile phones at the end of 2009," said Chris Jones, VP & Principal Analyst at research firm Canalys. 

From next month, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost. 

Ovi Maps covers more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries. There are more than 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world. Lonely Planet and Michelin guides have information on more than 1,000 destinations globally.