Nokia recently launched their new mapping service, Nokia Here and has since announced that this service will be usable on all phone operating systems, except BlackBerry.
This seems to be more bad news for Apple, who’s iOS mapping service (Apple Maps) has seen a huge slump in user activity. While Apple have said with time and usage the maps will work better, we haven’t see change yet.
For Android, this will be the first direct competitor Google Maps has, and we are sure Google are ready for the challenge ahead. Google have been working on their map software and design for an age now, and if Nokia can knock them on their home-turf, we’ll be shocked.
Nokia Here will not run the same on iOS as it will on Android and Windows 8. We understand that Nokia’s phones will be patched for deep integration with the Windows 8 operating system.
What Nokia Here offers is turn-by-turn navigation, live traffic, offline usage and 3D mapping in some areas. Nokia have said that this is only the beginning of the new Nokia Here service and that there will be more to come in the coming months.
Unknown to most, Nokia holds a lot of mapping patents and has worked with SatNav companies to make dedicated mapping tools. We believe Nokia will triumph on iOS and Windows, although shaking Android will be hard.
We are unsure when Nokia Here will come to phone stores, it is already up and running on the web. We believe we may see Windows 8 get the first dedicated app, followed by Android and then iOS.
Google have still not released their own version of Google Maps to iOS6 either, and they haven’t been quick to update their services on iOS6 at all. While this may be tactical, to try and draw people to Android, it seems to only be allowing competitors to get the edge.