GLOBAL – Nokia has unveiled a freshly tuned version of its debut touchscreen device, in the shape of the new Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition. Slated to saunter into pockets in the third quarter of 2009, this innovative incarnation of the 5800 comes pre-loaded with a lifetime of voice-guided Drive and Walk navigation licenses for your region.
GLOBAL – Not to get all misty-eyed, but it’s great to see Ovi Maps for mobile finally graduate from almost eight months of Beta Labs learning to become a fully fledged and officially launched service.
It’s been a project fueled with innovative thinking and supported by a fantastic array of active feedback from the ever-engaged Beta Labs community. One member of the Maps team, Kee, has written a short piece on the Beta Labs blog highlighting what they’ve learned from the development and the significance of the suggestions offered by the Beta Labs readership. Read on to find out more, and to get the full lowdown on Ovi Maps for mobile.
LONDON, England – I just picked up on a report in the Economic Times in India about some stats revealed at Nokia World (which I missed, entirely – shriek!) First, the numbers. Nokia plans to have mobile email on some 400 million handsets in the next 24 months. It also plans to sell 300 million GPS-enabled handsets in the next 18-24 months. Let’s put that last figure into perspective. Sales of stand alone sat nav devices in Europe and the USA for 2008 are expected to top out at about 30-40 million units. Let’s assume Asia does a similar number, to give a total of about 60 million units for 2008, and something similar in 2009, given the global slowdown. Nokia, on its own then, is predicting to double even the most ambitious estimate of standalone sat nav sales. Am I the only one who finds that pretty exceptional?
LONDON, England – We got our first satnav back in 2003. It was one of the first affordable in-car units and served us well until we offloaded our car earlier this year. Since then, we’ve been without satnav. For me, it hasn’t been a problem. Since getting an N95 last year, I’ve become increasingly reliant on its navigation abilities and more than once it’s got me out of a jam (not necessarily a traffic jam, more a “where am I?” jam). Last week the next version of Maps was revealed and boy has it moved on since the original. Terrain, 3D view, faster, more points of interest, it’s now genuinely something dedicated satnav manufacturers need to start worrying about. But there’s one thing standing between me and dropping dedicated satnav for good. My wife.
SAN FRANCISCO, USA – Last week, Nokia’s head of location-based activities, Michael Halbherr, told Reuters that Nokia is on track to have half of its devices shipping with GPS by 2012. That’s just four years away. Right now there are five GPS devices with four more due out in the coming months. That means a lot is going to change in the next couple of years.
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