Nokia buys another map company

Nokia has agreed to buy bit-side GmbH, a Berlin-based services and software company with 39 employees. It says integrating the company in its Services unit will strengthen and accelerate its mobile development for Nokia Maps. Nokia acquired digital map company NAVTEQ last year. [Press release]

13% of us rely on mobiles to find the way

In a Nokia press release that's full of comedy facts - more people get lost in London than anywhere else in the world, one in three Londoners deliberately gives people the wrong directions, 10% of Spaniards consider a sense of direction matures with age, the average person wastes 13 minutes when they get lost - there's some mobile-related stuff as well. Apparently 13% of people now use a mobile phone as their main navigation tool. [Press release]

70 million people will be using mobiles for navigation by 2014

By 2014, 70 million people will be navigating by using their mobile phones. That's the conclusion of a new research report from Berg Insight. They say the number of mobile customers downloading routes using their handsets is expected to grow by 27.9% per year from 16 million users in 2008 to 70 million users in 2014. Revenue from subscriptions and advertisements is expected to grow by 22.4% per year during the same period, hitting €597 million in 2014. [Press release]

Mobile map usage up 72% in UK

The latest comScore M:Metrics report says maps on mobile phones are becoming increasingly popular. Year-on-year growth for the three-month period ending May 2008 shows that 4.5% of UK mobile phone customers have used mobile maps, which is a 72% increase. Overall, 3% of Europeans and 8% of American mobile subscribers access maps from their mobiles. In the US, the iPhone is the favourite choice for map users, while it's the Nokia N95 in Europe. When it comes to software, 73% of customers accessing maps are doing it via their mnobile browser in the US, compared to 57% in Europe. SMS services account for 24% in Europe and 23% in the US. [Press release]

60% of UK mobile users just talk and text

Research by SNAPin Software has found that 60% of UK mobile phone users only call & text on their handsets and have no interest in other services. 29% of people said they were put off because they were confused about charging, while 18% couldn't be bothered to read the manual. Among those people who did use other features, the camera was the most popular choice - used by around 30% of them. Internet and email use was just 12%, and navigation was 3%. The researchers contacted almost 2,000 adults in December last year. Meanwhile in Japan, the communications ministry says it supports a proposed exam for mobile phone specialists who'd be able to explain complicated functions and tariffs. [Sources: vnunet.com; 160characters.org; yahoo.com]

Google offers location-finding on mobile maps

Google’s mobile maps service is now starting to display your current location on the map – even if your phone doesn’t have built-in GPS. Pressing ‘zero’ shows a blue circle that indicates your approximate position based on signal strength and distance from the nearest cell site. Google says it’s only accurate to around 1km and is currently a beta feature, so it might not always work.