Ovi Maps with free navigation passes 1 million downloads in a week

Richard Goodwin

Nokia has confirmed that its new version of Ovi Maps with walk and drive navigation, which was release just under a week ago, has surpassed 1 million downloads.

The new Ovi Maps was released in Thursday 21 January and features free navigation. According to Nokia, the 1 million download occurred within a week and the number of downloads has now risen to 1.4 million.

Nokia heavily invested in NAVTEQ to develop its Maps service, and by leveraging this investment it has been able to remove the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians, as well as activating a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services.

“We’re averaging a download a second, 24 hours a day,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia.

He added: “When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer. The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted.”

According to Nokia, from next month all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps pre-loaded with local and country map data. In addition to this, the new service will feature high-end walk and drive navigation as well as access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

“This is great news for our 3rd party application developers,” said Vanjoki.

He added: “Within a matter of days there is an installed base of more than 1 million active users all potentially hungry for new and innovative location-aware apps.”