Man, you thought Garmin and TomTom were in trouble when Google announced its free Navigation service... wait until investors hear Nokia's news. Reuters is reporting that Nokia will offer free navigation on its smartphones. However, instead of just the US (the current Google limitation sans hacking), Nokia will be demonstrating its reach by offering free turn-by-turn directions in 74 countries in 46 languages -- a move that should cover 20 million smartphones globally with Ovi Maps available in over 180 countries. Damn.

Update: The original San Francisco Chronicle report has been pulled but Google cache caught a bit more saying that Nokia's navigation service is "capable of operating completely offline" unlike Google Navigation which requires data connectivity.

[Thanks, Jussi]Nokia offering free turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones globally originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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