It sounds a little like stealing someone else’s homework and then putting your name it, only slightly more expensive, but Nokia has convinced Microsoft to rebrand Bing Maps as Nokia’s own.
In an interview with Pocket-lint, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced that the word “Nokia” will soon show up on maps from Microsoft, including those on BlackBerry devices. RIM started using Bing last year. Elop went on:
“Part of the relationship we established with Microsoft is that we are clearly placing a bet on the Windows Phone platform. [In return] they are placing a bet on our location-based platform: mapping, navigation and so forth.
“In the time ahead, what you will see is, across all the Microsoft properties including Bing maps, more and more work will be done by Nokia.”
It creates some balance in what has, so far, been perceived to be a fairly one-sided relationship between Microsoft and Nokia. Remember that Microsoft already works closely with Nokia’s own Navteq on Bing’s 3D maps and StreetSide map views, and it seems to make even more sense. [PocketLint]
Image: luca.sartoni
Franz
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 12:00 AMMicrosoft found a soulmate :O
Another company that’s not afraid to throw buckets of money around on a whim.
FJC
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 3:03 AMGreat move cus bing maps suck outside the US.
WP was the best ecosystem Nokia could have gone to imo to give it a unique look in the flood of Android handsets, plus cheaper to make a handset for considering M$ does most of the chip/software optimisations.
TSH
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 12:01 PMSweet! Nokia’s maps and navigation, even on my old S60 handset, are head and shoulders above Bing Maps. The partnership between the two is really an opportunity for Nokia to capitalise on their substantial skills in this area.
qmeeuj
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 8:33 PMakkartl