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Nokia Finds There's Money In Maps |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 12 February 2008 |
Nokia has not only introduced a new personal
navigation phone at this year's Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona, it has used the event to launch a total
revamp of its mapping and navigation offering that improves navigation
for pedestrians and adds satellite images to the maps.
Mapping is becoming a key function in the mobile world as potential
advertisers increasingly see the enormous impact location based
services could have on their marketing efforts. Accordingly, Nokia has
also announced a global Media Network bringing 70 publishers under an
umbrella that could reach more than 100
million mobile consumers around the globe.
Key to the new navigation push is devices such as the new Nokia 6210 Navigator. It's the company's first
GPS-enabled mobile device that has an integrated compass to help pedestrian
find there way instead of walking on the road to their destination.
The system works with Nokia Maps 2.0 and includes full voice and visual turn by turn
guidance powered by an 'accelerometer' which measures changes in direction and
orientation rather than relying solely on GPS positioning. This built-in compass makes it easy to follow the map when
walking as the device automatically
orientations the map if you turn a corner or re-orient the device.
The integrated Nokia Maps 2.0 application
will plot the quickest route to the desired destination and illustrate
it on the map. But the solution goes further. Thanks to the high speed
broadband capabilities of the phone, users will also be able to
instantly access detailed
information about points of interest, or get the phone number and web
address of businesses they see along the way.
Of course the Nokia navigation system still offers drivers the
facilities they need for in-car navigation. One-touch navigation and
full voice guidance equips the Nokia 6210
Navigator with the type of navigation possible from dedicated GPS
devices.
The
Nokia 6210 Navigator supports assisted GPS (aGPS), which enables the
GPS receiver to acquire satellite positioning faster by leveraging the
information it can glean from triangulated readings off mobile phone
towers.
Nokia's plan is for local maps to be pre-loaded on a 1GB memory card that comes with the device and map
updates will be included in the sales price. For an additional fee, users
can purchase multimedia city guides from premium content providers via
Nokia Maps application and download additional map areas for free says the company.
With a redesigned user interface the new Maps application helps you
work out where you are by giving you information about buildings,
streets and parks
(including pathways through the park) that are around you. With the
multimedia guides it should even be able to show you photos, videos and
provide audio guides.
"The
personal navigation market is expanding rapidly and mobile phone
navigation is its fastest growing area. According to recent market
research by Canalys, over 60% of mobile phone users are keen to have
navigation on their phones," says Markku Suomi, the head of Nokia's
Connect device category. "The Nokia 6210 Navigator offers the next
generation in mobile navigation to a broad consumer base."
It is also interesting to note that Nokia is
bringing a version of Nokia Maps to the Series 40 platform opening up
the functionality to a muich wider range of mid-priced phones than the
Series 60 Symbian devices we've seen so far. Nokia says thatSeries 40
devices accounted for a large portion of the more than 437-million
devices
Nokia estimates it had cumulatively shipped by the end of 2007.
On the advertising side, Nokia has signed up over 70 leading publisher and operators
including AccuWeather, Discovery, Hearst,
Reuters, and Sprint to form what it is billing as the first global
mobile ad network of top tier publishers. The company says it is achieving click-through
rates averaging 10% on certain channels which will certainly start turning heads in corporate marketing departments.
Although this is not yet linked in to the location capabilities of the
GPS services that will surely come. The ad network is built on a system
the company acquired when it bought Enpocket, in October last year
which users "ground breaking analytics technology" to better target the
punters when they are nearly ready to part with their hard earned cash.
   
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