- Less than a week after launching an Android Here mapping/navigation app (in beta) and announcing an exclusive licensing deal with Samsung, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) says Here will also return to iOS this year.
- Nokia is stressing Here's offline map support as a differentiator relative to Google Maps. While Google Maps supports offline viewing, users have to manually save individual map images. Nokia also plans to support offline map searches.
- Nokia exec Sean Fernback: "I'm convinced people are looking for alternatives ... Google Maps is a good solution for many, their maps work very well, but it has looked the same and done the same for a long time."
- Fernback admits the old Here iOS app, which Nokia pulled last year (citing iOS 7's changes), was "a rushed product that was never thoroughly proven." He insists Nokia has learned from its mistakes.