Nokia Folding Maps Into Their Business

Norwegian phone giant Nokia announced its intention to purchase Chicago-based navigation software maker Navteq for around 8 billion dollars.  Nokia, already the world's largest maker of mobile phones, seeks to expand the mobile services it offers to go along with the hardware.

Nokia's President and Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said "location-based services are one of the cornerstones of Nokia's Internet services strategy. The acquisition of Navteq is another step toward Nokia becoming a leading player in this space."

Helsinki-based Nokia has made several acquisitions to expand Internet services. The company announced last month that it would buy Enpocket, a U.S.-based mobile advertising company, and last year acquired Loudeye Corp. to expand its digital music offerings.

In a push to challenge rivals, including Apple Inc.'s iTunes and iPod, Nokia unveiled new Internet services and gadgets this year to help customers download music and to play games on mobile handsets.

The Navteq division will continue to run independently, which is a shame, as the merger of the Nokia and Navteq names would have made a tremendous triple word score for Scrabble.