Nokia to give away mapping application

Nokia Corp. hopes to expand its mobile navigation business by offering free downloadable maps to users with a variety of smartphones.
The handset maker announced plans to give away smart2go, a platform that delivers mapping and routing information in more than 150 counties and can support turn-by-turn satellite navigation in 30 geographic markets. The free offering allows users to view their location on a map, search for nearby points of interest and create routes to destinations.
Free downloads of smart2go will be available this weekend for selected S60 and Microsoft Corp. Windows Mobile 5.0 devices; the effort will eventually support “most of the major mobile OS platforms” including S60, S40, Linux and other Windows Mobile handsets.
Nokia jumped headfirst into the wireless mapping waters last year with the acquisition of gate5, a German developer of location-based technology and applications. The company is pitted in the LBS space against more than a half-dozen pure-play mobile developers as well as Internet behemoths Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., which are gaining traction as they expand from desktop mapping solutions into wireless.
“People will trust and use maps if they have those maps with them when they need them, and smart2go allows consumers the full freedom of which maps they want to carry with them,” said Ralph Eric Kunz, vice president of Nokia’s multimedia division. “Nokia is on track to build the world’s most connected location-based platform for mobile devices, which also opens up interesting opportunities for future services.”