Nokia India Introduced Rebranded Map Service named HERE

Nokia India on 20 November 2012 launched its re-branded mobile map services in the Indian market.

The new cloud computing-based map service is called as HERE and offers maps and location-based services across multiple devices and operating systems. The main aim of the service is to inspire a new generation of location services and devices that make the mobile experience more personally significant for people everywhere.

Presently, the service is available free on Nokia handsets but it will soon start working with Android-based device makers such as Samsung. The service is also available in the Apple AppStore iOS, through which users can save an area to their device so that they can explore even without data coverage.

The service is based on HTML5, and it also includes offline capabilities, voice-guided walk navigation, and public transport directions.
 
The android ecosystem which is controlled by Google already uses their own mapping service but by 2013 the new launched services is going to available  across Android and iOS platforms and the company hope to be on top in mapping services like what is Facebook in social networking and Google in search.

The company claims to be number one in the mapping solutions with engagements not only with handset makers, but also with automobile manufacturers such as Volvo, BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes and Volkswagen.

Nokia is also planning build some unique applications as well for its smartphones like Lumia. Like we see for current Lumia phones that is uses an app called City Lens that enables users to point the camera at real-world objects and see data overlaid on top of them on the screen.

The company has 4,000 towns and cities covered under its mapping service with more than seven million points of interest. As per the research conducted by independent market research firm Strategy Analytics, global location-based services have an opportunity of $6 billion by 2016.
The research had also predicted that the consumer and advertiser expenditure on location-based services is going to reach $10 billion by 2016.

Nokia is also on a way to bulid a strategic partnership with Mozilla so that both can together create new location experiences to the Firefox OS. Nokia plans to debut a mobile Web version of HERE Maps for the new Firefox OS in year 2013. The companies are working together to give people the best mapping experience on Firefox OS.