Mobile Phones UK

Mobile Phones UK

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Nokia foresees GPS ubiquity on mobile phones

Nokia says it will include GPS navigation in the majority of its business and multimedia handsets by 2012.

"Nokia is planning to ship 35 million GPS units this year and many more location-enabled phones that use cell-towers to orient themselves on the map," says Michael Halbherr, the head of Nokia's location-based activities. "You will see few 'E' or 'N' Series phones without GPS," he adds.

Halbherr claims the strategy will benefit all Nokia users, even those without GPS phones as they'll still benefit as GPS phone users update Nokia Maps just by moving around.

"Location will ultimately be in every device," Halbherr declared, not just the half of phones with special GPS chips.

In addition to GPS chips, Nokia's strategy involves pushing Wi-Fi enabled devices that use local wireless network antennas to pinpoint the phone's position.

Nokia currently sells five models with built-in GPS and has unveiled four more which will ship in the coming months.

However free-to-use services such as Google Maps have also been driving the uptake of GPS phones.

source : http://www.pcpro.co.uk/

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