You know, guys! All I can say is:: THANK YOU, APPLE! For bringing such competition and provoking such steps from market "leaders". Competition..Who wins? WE ARE!
You honestly believe if Apple never came out with the iPhone that this still would have happened??? HAHAHA wow! somebody is drinking a little too much of the iHater koolaid. The iPhone is the biggest competition, the biggest competition the mobile phone market has ever seen to be honest, and carriers are desperate to try and lure as many stragglers as they can, thus free services. Verizon or any other carrier never would have even contemplated backing something like Android, staring point of free Google GPS, if it wasn't for Apple taking all the risk in trying to shift the powers a little between providers and makers and showing what a good device teamed up with a gorgeous UI can do for sales. With Apple dropping the first stone and creating a ripple effect I think it's almost fair to say every mobile phone feature/service/design/etc from here to the end of time will somehow have been influenced by iPhone. Whether you want to agree with that or not is totally up to you and your bias but that fact will always remain.
When google started to offer google maps for free anybody offering maps for a price started to hurt. Only way to compete with somebody offering something for free is to do the same. With Nokia this was a no brainer as they own a map service provider.
Actually Nokia Maps existed as a free application before the iPhone was even announced. The only change from today is that they also made navigation free.
And Nokia's free services have nothing to do with US carriers.
@newone I agree, this is definitely Google's doing. Google wants to set up a competing map service to Navteq and launched Google Maps Navigation in the US as a beta while it gathers POI data from Android users. Either way, it is a great move from Nokia. I would not be surprised if Apple responds in kind. Regardless, consumers benefit. I do wonder, however, how this affects Nokia's profitability. I'm sure they didn't spend $8 billion for Navteq with the intent of just giving away its content.
@MattWPBS No, but they have huge marketing muscle. Google doesn't own a mapping company, but they launched Navigation. In Google's case, they are trying to create their own map database and cut out Navteq and TeleAtlas. If I'm TeleAtlas and Tom-Tom, I'm worried about Nokia's move worldwide. One way to counter that would be to partner with Apple, who has proven that they have the ability to sell millions of phones.
Rrright... shouldn't we also thank blackberry and palm for bringing a new concept to cell phone usage? no, no, wait... what about thanking motorola for creating the first cell phone and making all of this possible... mmm... but if you think about it, it's actually Marconi and Edison we should thank... c'mon people, stop the fanboyism, it's nokia's win here... as was Google's with Navigation in the US and apple´s for first great touch screen phone...
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You know, guys! All I can say is:: THANK YOU, APPLE! For bringing such competition and provoking such steps from market "leaders". Competition..Who wins? WE ARE!
@suland - yeah, because Apple has *anything* to do with this. Riiiiight.
@NewL
Oh absolutely.. Even the recent cold snap in the UK is directly because of the weather altering level of coolness that Apple inspires..
Meteors have been turned from collision with earth because that would harm the beauty that is Apple products..
@NewL
You honestly believe if Apple never came out with the iPhone that this still would have happened??? HAHAHA wow! somebody is drinking a little too much of the iHater koolaid. The iPhone is the biggest competition, the biggest competition the mobile phone market has ever seen to be honest, and carriers are desperate to try and lure as many stragglers as they can, thus free services. Verizon or any other carrier never would have even contemplated backing something like Android, staring point of free Google GPS, if it wasn't for Apple taking all the risk in trying to shift the powers a little between providers and makers and showing what a good device teamed up with a gorgeous UI can do for sales. With Apple dropping the first stone and creating a ripple effect I think it's almost fair to say every mobile phone feature/service/design/etc from here to the end of time will somehow have been influenced by iPhone. Whether you want to agree with that or not is totally up to you and your bias but that fact will always remain.
@High
Apple had nothing to do with this.
It's all down to google.
When google started to offer google maps for free anybody offering maps for a price started to hurt. Only way to compete with somebody offering something for free is to do the same. With Nokia this was a no brainer as they own a map service provider.
@High
Actually Nokia Maps existed as a free application before the iPhone was even announced. The only change from today is that they also made navigation free.
And Nokia's free services have nothing to do with US carriers.
@newone I agree, this is definitely Google's doing. Google wants to set up a competing map service to Navteq and launched Google Maps Navigation in the US as a beta while it gathers POI data from Android users. Either way, it is a great move from Nokia. I would not be surprised if Apple responds in kind. Regardless, consumers benefit. I do wonder, however, how this affects Nokia's profitability. I'm sure they didn't spend $8 billion for Navteq with the intent of just giving away its content.
@KPOM
How is Apple going to respond - do they own their own digital mapping company?
@MattWPBS No, but they have huge marketing muscle. Google doesn't own a mapping company, but they launched Navigation. In Google's case, they are trying to create their own map database and cut out Navteq and TeleAtlas. If I'm TeleAtlas and Tom-Tom, I'm worried about Nokia's move worldwide. One way to counter that would be to partner with Apple, who has proven that they have the ability to sell millions of phones.
@suland
Rrright... shouldn't we also thank blackberry and palm for bringing a new concept to cell phone usage? no, no, wait... what about thanking motorola for creating the first cell phone and making all of this possible... mmm... but if you think about it, it's actually Marconi and Edison we should thank... c'mon people, stop the fanboyism, it's nokia's win here... as was Google's with Navigation in the US and apple´s for first great touch screen phone...