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Nokia has found a vulnerability in Apple’s armor, and it’s taking advantage.
The mobile company yesterday posted a blog on its site discussing the value of its mapping applications. Although some gloating might have been warranted, Nokia just couldn’t help itself from taking a few swipes at Apple and Google.
“Unlike our competitors, which are financing their location assets with advertising or licensing mapping content from third parties, we completely own, build and distribute mapping content, platform and apps,” the company wrote. “In other words, we truly understand that maps and location-based apps must be accurate, provide the best quality and be accessible basically anywhere. That’s been standard practice at Nokia for the past six years, and we also understand that ‘pretty’ isn’t enough.”
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Nokia’s thinly veiled jabs come as Apple is under fire for the troubles its new Maps application are facing in iOS 6. The application, which replaced Google Maps in iOS, has less detail than its predecessor, misidentified cities, duplicated islands, and many other problems. Some towns, including Uckfield in East Sussex, are in the wrong location.
Nokia’s mapping comments might have more to do with reality than gloating. The company has long been a leader in the mapping business, offering its services in-car units and other mapping devices. Nokia’s maps also power Yahoo’s offering, and will be the backbone of Windows Phone 8’s mapping.
To illustrate its leadership, Nokia offered up a comparison between the mapping services coming to its Lumia 920 and those on the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5. As one might expect, Nokia claims to have the upperhand in most, if not all, of the categories. Chief among its findings: it offers turn-by-turn navigation in 110 countries, compared to the iPhone’s 56. Nokia’s offering also works offline, while those in the other devices do not.
Despite all of that, however, Nokia is still trailing far behind its competitors in the mobile market. Apple is expected to sell as many as 10 million iPhone 5 units this weekend, alone. Nokia, meanwhile, has watched its sales plummet. Maps or not, Nokia has some serious work cut out for it to catch up to Apple and Samsung.
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