Nokia Corporation
(
NOK
), the struggling Finish handset manufacturer, is planning to
share its mapping application with
Apple Inc.
's (
AAPL
) iPhone and
Google Inc.
's (
GOOG
) Android-based phones. Sharing its map with these leading
smartphone manufacturers will help Nokia to improve its popular
mapping application, thereby making it much more competitive than
other developers.
The company is set to launch a map application called 'Here',
which will be available to the iPhone and iPad customers free of
cost through Apple's App store. Nokia will also release a toolkit
for the developers to develop mapping application for
Google'sAndroid-based smartphones.
Nokia's 'Here' application includes features like voice-based
walking navigation, public transportation directions and map
editing which are currently unavailable at Apple's mapping
application. If Nokia succeeds to sell its mapping application,
it will be a major win over Google as iPhone had been earlier
using Goolge's mapping technology.
Nokia's latest offering, Lumia 920 possess a unique mapping
application called City Lens, which allows the users to point the
camera at real world objects and visualize the data written on it
through its large screen. Nokia's mapping database has locational
information of about 200 countries and is more popular than
Apple's new map system.
Inspite of this new feature, Lumia 920 hasn't fared well and
still lags far behind Apple's iPhone and other smartphone
manufacturers that are using Google's Android operating system.
The research firm, IDC reports that Nokia's smartphone market
share stands at 4.3% as compared to Android's 75% and Apple's
14.9%.
According to the company, sharing its mapping database with
other smartphone manufacturers will not only increase its user
base but will also help it get contribution from other
developers; thus making it much more effective. Recently, the
company has agreed to acquire 3D mapping service company
Earthmine, which shows its intent to improve its reputation in
the mapping space. We believe sharing will allow Nokia to
monetize its mapping application, which in turn will provide the
company a new revenue stream.
We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Nokia.
Currently, the company retains a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a
short-term Hold rating.
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