Mobile: Nokia's launch of Ovi Maps demonstrates its willingness to take market leadership in mobile location

[gartner] On 20 May 2009, Nokia introduced its latest Ovi Maps version, which will be available on the Web and on mobile phones. It lets users search, explore, save and share location-relevant information using Ovi Maps on the Web and compatible Nokia phones. The company also announced the release of the Ovi Maps Player application programming interface, which allows third parties to embed Ovi Maps functionality into any compatible Web site, using basic JavaScript.

Analysis

Nokia’s announcement illustrates the company’s strategy and desire to become a market leader in the emerging location-aware services market with three features:

• Nokia’s enhanced, high-resolution Ovi Maps, which include 2-D and 3-D views, expanded point of interest (POI) data and real-time traffic information
• The ability to wirelessly synchronize data between the Web and the mobile phone, which goes beyond current single-directional “sent-to-car” functionality such as Google Maps
• The Ovi Maps Player, which initially will be available on Windows PC browsers only

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