TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
August 03, 2012

Nokia Maps Now Incorporates Groupon

By Miguel Leiva-Gomez, TMCnet Contributor

Groupon is a service that shows you great special offers situated in a location near you at the present moment. Nokia (News - Alert), in an attempt to please its Lumia users, just added Groupon to an app included in its Lumia series phones – Nokia Maps. The Groupon integration comes in the form of a small green "G" icon that appears next to place icons, showing you where you can get discounts through this proprietary service. There are several retailers who have used Groupon as a platform to help attract customers with their special discounts, and it seems that Lumia users will now join that set of customers.



Unfortunately, this feature isn't available to U.S. phones, since Nokia is waiting for Windows Phone (News - Alert) 8 to come out. This probably will come about as soon as October 26, if we are to assume that the release will come about at the same time as Windows 8's release, as announced by Microsoft (News - Alert).

Groupon has had some trouble in the past, since customers find it difficult to reach the zones that it highlights, particularly because the special offers are too far from them to be convenient. People in Great Britain have suggested that Groupon give them a heads up on deals that are in their part of the city. At this moment, some users have had difficulties due to having to take hours to actually reach the areas highlighted by the service.

Nokia saw this as an opportunity for improving upon the interface, since Nokia Maps has to compete with Google’s (which wanted to buy Groupon) Maps service and TomTom's (News - Alert) mapping interface. Pino Bonetti, Nokia's senior marketing communications manager, said on Nokia's blog: "Groupon Now! on Nokia Maps is a great way to get nearby deals on demand that you can buy and use the same day. You can buy them and use them right away for instant gratification. We think that this is a perfect way to try new places or find great offers around you, in your home city or when travelling."

Hopefully, Nokia's new service will help the company trump its competition and will, at the same time; help Groupon become a little more relevant to its own users.



Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.




Edited by Brooke Neuman
» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles