Navtec was a great acqusition for Nokia

Nokia steps up in their mapping efforts to totally different level. The acquisition of Navteq is a brilliant strategic move. It brings a great counterweight to the big Internet players growing dominance in Maps and Local services. Owning electronic maps is the DNA of that business. Maps is one of the most promising areas of mobile services. GPS chips are evolving fast and I see no reason why not nearly every phone will have a GPS chip in it just like there are cameras in most phones. The screen are becoming big and sharp enough. The only thing missing is good analogue input, which is needed to navigate maps, after all a map is a gigantic sheet and gliding smoothly over it is crucial for a good user experience. The basic utility of where am I and where should I go is high, the monetization opportunities are big. There are lots of interesting services on can build on top of maps. The fact that Nokia owns Maps enables them to provide them in their devices and they get around the complicated legal myriad of meta data business, that slows down the business of local.

People often ask if I think Nokia is serious with services. This is not a relevant question anymore. They are very very serious and it is clear that their new CEO is setting a new tone at the company.

The local business just got more interesting, it is now really a battle of the giants. I wonder who will acquire TomTom who owns TeleAtlas the alternative to Navteq.