Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia on Tuesday announced plans to buy a
California firm specializing in rendering the real-world in 3D as it
beefed up mapping services for smartphone lifestyles.
Nokia expected
to complete its acquisition of Berkeley-based Earthmine by the end of
the year. It did not reveal financial terms of the deal.
"We are
very excited to be joining Nokia - a company with a huge presence and
vision in mapping," said Earthmine co-chief executive John Ristevski.
"We could not hope for a better place to fulfill and accelerate our mission of indexing the world in 3D."
News
of the takeover came as Nokia unveiled a HERE mapping and
location-based services platform that will be powered in the Internet
"cloud" to work across an array of devices and operating systems.
"People
want great maps, and with HERE we can bring together Nokia's location
offering to deliver people a better way to explore, discover and share
their world," said Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop.
"With HERE we can extend our 20 years of location expertise to new devices and operating systems that reach beyond Nokia."
Nokia
expected to make available in the coming weeks a HERE map application
tailored for iPhones, iPads and other Apple gadgets running on iOS
software.
Apple developed its own mapping program included in its
new mobile iOS 6 operating system, and in doing so booted off Google
Maps, which had been the default program for Apple devices.
But
the new Apple program immediately drew scorn for omitting key landmarks
and cities, failing to identify correct locations and distorting views
from its images.
Apple encouraged customers to use alternatives the company works out its bugs.
"Maps
are hard to get right - but location is revolutionizing how we use
technology to engage with the real world," said Michael Halbherr, the
Nokia executive vice president in charge of the HERE brand.
"That's why we have been investing and will continue to invest in building the world's most powerful location offering."
In 2008, Nokia bought Chicago-based digital map maker Navteq in a deal valued at $8.1 billion.