Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) will reveal its new agreement with Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) allowing the customers of the computer hardware systems and software enterprise company to access its maps data and locations services. The deal is intended to increase the use Nokia’s mapping software.
According to the report from Wall Street Journal, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer will announce the details of the mapping software agreement during the Oracle World conference in San Francisco today, October 1, 2012. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK)’s management team believes expanding the use of the company’s mapping services through its deal with Oracle would boost its capability to compete with Google maps.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK)’s agreement with Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) was confirmed by a spokesperson from the Finnish company on Sunday, according to the report. During the conference, Oracle is expected to show off how easy for customers to integrate its applications with Nokia maps. The primary customers of Oracle are enterprises. Nokia considers the enterprises as significant users to embrace its mapping technology.
In 2007, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) acquired Navteq, a company that makes digital maps of GPS navigation for $8.1 billion in order to boost its location and commerce business. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) held a dominant position in the automobile-navigation industry. The company started to expand its mapping software by integrating it into mobile devices and other applications through partnerships with technology companies such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Nokia mapping technology is the core part of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 mapping services.
In a previous interview with WSJ, Stephen Elop, Chief Executive Officer of Nokia expressed strong confidence with the company’s mapping software. He said, “We have strong mapping, we have strong navigation capabilities, but those examples are just the tip of the iceberg on what we believe—and you certainly see it from our competitors as well, what they believe—the future holds as it relates to location-based services.”
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) hired Elop to help the company recover from its financial woes. He brought Navteq to Nokia’s services business and created the Location & Commerce division. He believed the mapping technology is significant to turn around the company.
Aside from Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) also struck a deal with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). The Finnish company provides mapping data for the online retail giants’ Kindle devices. Nokia also partnered with Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN). Both companies agreed to integrate Groupon’s daily deals to the maps feature of the Lumia smartphones.
The Finnish mobile company is proud of the capabilities of the Nokia maps as the company invested so much developing its mapping technology. The Nokia maps feature turn-by-turn navigation, and it is accessible online and offline.
