Now that Nokia’s mapping business is untethered from its handsets, it can extend its Here service as rapidly as possible. The application is available for Android devices for the first time, though for now only on Samsung products. Coming preloaded on Galaxy devices will be important to the market reach of Nokia Here, but the Samsung deal points to a far more ambitious goal – to usurp Google Maps’ dominant position in mobile location services, in the internet of things.
Even before Nokia offloaded its devices business to Microsoft, it was expanding its mapping platform’s reach beyond Windows Phone, with a cloud-based Here offering, and several major licensing deals with car manufacturers and with other partners such as Amazon (and Microsoft itself).
But it had not ported its app to Android, until it announced a licensing deal with Samsung in August. Now the product is available in the Galaxy App Store for devices running Android 4.1 and with 1Gbyte or more of RAM. More importantly, the app will come preloaded on new Galaxy smartphones, which strikes a significant blow at Google Maps.
The Android giant is trying hard to unify the user experience for its somewhat anarchic mobile operating system, and to ensure that more devices have its own services, such as Search and Maps, at the heart of the homescreen. While users are generally lethargic about actively downloading alternatives to preloaded services, once Here is preloaded, it will squeeze usage of Google’s rival on the devices which, despite Samsung’s current challenges, still make up the largest family of Android products.
That will help Samsung in its bid to differentiate its user experience from that of vanilla Android. This is becoming urgent, not just to improve its weight against Google in the Android balance of power, but to set itself apart from the rising tide of low cost smartphones coming out of China and India. Few of these vendors have the resources that Samsung has, if it puts its mind to it, to create an innovative software platform.
Samsung’s efforts in this direction have had mixed results – for every S Pen there is the distraction of a Tizen flop. But Nokia’s mapping platform could be an important element of a revamped user experience, as it has been for Amazon, which has also focused on creating a de-Googled Android look and feel. And with the handsets done, there are not even any residual conflicts of interest in working with Nokia, so the Samsung alliance could reach beyond the app in future and into the whole platform.
The Here app supports functions including turn-by-turn navigation; 3D, flat and satellite maps; offline usage; and Collections, a set of bookmarked favorite locations. It is also adding Glympse, which lets users share their location with others just for a limited period of time.
Sean Ferback, SVP of everyday mobility for Nokia Here, told ZDNet: “We were looking for opportunities to work with them, particularly around the mobile space because they have a very significant mobile reach. We went to talk to them, and one of the things they were struggling with was ‘how do we create something that just sets us aside from any other Android device?’”
He added that they were also talking about Tizen and Galaxy Gear, so Here could be part of that platform for wearables too. Though Tizen handsets have been repeatedly delayed, Samsung is using the open source OS, in which it is the heaviest investor, to create its own-controlled software platform for wearables, distinct from Android Wear. And it is making some of its Galaxy Gear smartwatches operate as more standalone devices than most smartphone-tethered gadgets, with their own cellular connections and the Opera Mini browser. Location services could be a logical feature of an autonomous watch and other emerging wearable form factors.
The Here app will also be coming to iOS before year end. Nokia pulled its original iOS implementation late last year, citing compatibility issues which weakened the user experience – despite initially having enjoyed a boost from Apple’s bungled launch of its own iOS Maps service.
But more important than the established smartphones will be the auto makers and the wearables, and even industrial internet applications – areas where Nokia can build new partnerships with companies that are creating services and experiences for a whole new wave of the internet, for cars, machines and smart glasses. Here, the playing field is currently wide open and Nokia has far fewer competitive conflicts for most companies than Google does. The mapping unit is a small part of the rump Nokia business for now, but whether or not the Finnish firm keeps it close or spins it off, Here has a real opportunity to take Google Maps’ role in the internet of things.