On February 10, Nokia will open a new service. The world's top cellphone maker will give free maps and routing in more than 150 countries.

Nokia's new service, named smart2go, will let users put localised search and route-finding services into mobile phones for free. It will also allow them to use its car navigation software, from last year's acquisition of Gate5, at a considerably lower price than dedicated GPS devices.

Standalone route-finder makers such as market leader TomTom have said they do not see mobile phones as an immediate threat to their business, and may even create an opportunity to sell route-finding software to cellphone users.

Nokia plans to pre-install the smart2go mapping and navigation application on all future Nokia Nseries multimedia computers under the name Nokia Maps. Current owners of Nokia devices may also download Nokia Maps to their supported devices. The platform contains over 15 million POIs that help people explore the most interesting sights, restaurants or accommodations around them. Customers can select their favorite locations and send them to friends by multimedia message, Bluetooth wireless technology, infrared or e-mail.

There are various licenses available for the new service: from a one week to a three year term. When traveling to a new country for holiday one can download the relevant maps via PC in advance and subscribe to the navigation service for the duration of the holiday at affordable cost.

written by Robert M.