Next piece of context-aware puzzle slots in place

ESPOO, Finland – Having barely had time to draw breath from the completion of the NAVTEQ and Trolltech deals, Nokia has brought another significant Internet services company under its wing. This week Nokia completed the acquisition of a small cutting-edge online outfit called Plazes, a bite-size company that offers a funky mash-up of a mobile social networking blended with context-aware location-based info and interaction.

There’s no hiding from the fact that location-based mobile Internet services are perched high on Nokia’s agenda, highlighted back in May by Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, but this new acquisition also reinforces the huge amount of emphasis being placed on innovation. The team from Plazes is only 13-strong, yet their experience is being integrated into Services and Software unit, where it will become an important building block for these sorts of mobile services.

Take a look at Plazes here. Have you used it, what do you think to this sort of concoction of online services? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Photo from tcp909

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Tags | Context aware, conversations, Location-based, Navteq, Nokia, Plazes, Trolltech