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Feb. 4, 2010

In the last ten days or so, Nokia has been seeing a lot of demand for its free GPS navigation service.

Today, Nokia reports that its new version of Ovi Maps, with free walk and drive GPS navigation app has been downloaded more than 1.4 million times.

Nokia says that the success of its new version of Ovi Maps is a key part of its strategy to lead the wireless market in mobile maps, GPS navigation and location-based services (LBS).

By fully leveraging its investment in maps provider Navteq, Nokia says it has been able to remove the huge costs associated with GPS navigation for drivers and even pedestrians, and is quickly activating a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services.

Nokia says it reached the 1 million download mark just one week after the launch of its new nav service. The company even says the number of people now using Nokia for navigation is growing faster than it predicted.

And as you can expect, this is giving Google a good run for its money... It seems now that people like Nokia's navigation service more than Google's.

Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia executive vice president says "this is great news for our third-party mobile apps developers. Within just one week from launch, we had an installed base of more than 1.2 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps. For the wireless providers there is a also a growing opportunity to offer more data-plans and a complete navigation package to existing and new mobile customers."

All new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

As of Jan. 31, the top 5 countries downloading the new version of Ovi Maps were: China, Italy, the U.K., Germany and Spain.

The top 5 most popular Nokia wireless devices installing the download were: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N-97 mini, Nokia N-97, Nokia 5230 and Nokia E-72.

While Google is still trying to fine-tune its maps, Nokia boasts that its maps cover more than 180 countries with car and pedestrian navigation in 46 languages.

On Tuesday, Verizon Wireless announced the launch of VZ Navigator 5.0 powered by TeleCommunication Systems (TCS), which costs $9.99 a month for unlimited access or $2.99 for one-day or 24-hour access on certain devices.

Verizon's new nav service also uses Navteq digital map technology.

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Source: Nokia.