Nokia Ovi Maps Crosses 1 Million Downloads in a Week

By Rajani Baburajan

TMCnet Contributor

 

Nokia reportedly announced that within a few weeks of launch of the new version of Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation, there have been more than 1.4 million downloads.

 

On Jan. 21, Nokia (News - Alert) announced the availability of the new version of its mobile phone navigation application, Ovi Maps, free of charge. The 1 million mark was reached just one week after the launch, meaning on an average Ovi Maps gets a customer every second, 24 hours a day, company officials added.

 

“When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer,” Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president, Nokia, said. “The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted.”

 

Ovi Maps covers more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation for 74 countries, in 46 languages, and traffic information for more than 10 countries, said company officials. There are more than 6000 3D landmarks for 200 cities around the world.

 

According to Nokia officials, Ovi Maps takes Nokia in the forefront of the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services.

 

By leveraging its investment in Navteq, Nokia’s navigation subsidy, Nokia removed the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians and is quickly activating a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services, company officials said.

 

“This is great news for our 3rd party application developers,” Vanjoki said. “Within a matter of days there is an installed base of more than 1 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps.”

 

The new application also provides operators with an opportunity to sell more data-plans and a complete navigation package to existing and new customers, Vanjoki added.

 

The top five countries downloading the new version of Ovi Maps are China, Italy, U.K., Germany and Spain, company officials said. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the download were Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, Nokia 5230 and Nokia E72.

 

Starting next month, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost, the company said.