Nokia +Navteq = The Future of LBS

I have yet to post on Nokia’s acquisition of Navteq, but this certainly sums it up nicely …

Nokia’s (NYSE: NOK) recent purchase of Navteq is more than just grabbing a navigation service, according to comments on the companies recent conference call. Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s EVP multimedia, said: “Maps and location based services is a key service area we are focusing on. In fact, I see, that location and context information is a key component in our future internet services, including search and navigation, photos and videos, as well as presence and communities. Our vision is that the location information helps build the next base of the bed with context sensitive services.” Vanjoki spoke about making pedestrian navigation a value added service for consumers, claiming that the “pedestrian location-based services market is totally undeveloped with basically zero penetration among the 3 billion mobile devices uses globally”. This includes: finding friends, where your map on the device will show you in realtime where your friends, family and other acquaintances are, allowing you to stay in touch; creating your own location tags to add information to a map; and organise photos, video and other media according to location. Vanjoki said this was the justification for buying Navteq rather than just partnering with it: “These type of features and services you can only create efficiently if you have the map data and consumer application parts in the same company. [ mocoNews.net]

The mobile is key to connectivity – with your friends and to the information that matters. It is the most personal device we have… Having GPS and location information accessible to applications or simply to the device itself opens up a whole world of opportunity. An enhanced presence application like Jaiku enables me to share where I am, what I am doing and even that I am available for contact. As I shoot pictures and video or search for information online, my phone can tag or flag things that can then be easily shared with my friends and family. The future is looking bright!

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4 Replies to “Nokia +Navteq = The Future of LBS”

  1. Whoa, okay. Hello ubiquitous computing.

    Nokia used to make decent phones. Then came the N-Series and S60 3rd Edition. I hope they don’t squander this acquisition.

  2. Things are getting better quickly (agree there were some issues) but the latest S60v3 devices are really very good.

    Seems they are listening…

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