Finnish phone-maker Nokia is expected to unveil a new deal with Oracle Monday. This deal is expected to give Nokia's neglected assets - mapping and geolocation services - a much-needed boost.
It will give Oracle customers access to Nokia's mapping services. It's expected to be announced at the OracleWorld conference in San Francisco, the Wall Street Journal reported. Oracle will provide Nokia's mapping services by integrating it with Oracle applications.
In a recent apology by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Nokia was also mentioned as an alternative to Apple's "Maps."
The deal "isn't a huge win" but Nokia gets "a new audience." And with Oracle by its side, Nokia's mapping feature "will have solid enterprise distribution to go along with its Microsoft partnerships on maps," ZDNet reported.
Nokia acquired digital-map supplier Navteq in 2007 for $8.1 billion. It has been trying to strengthen its customer base for its location-based services.
Nokia has partnered with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo and Groupon for geolocation services. Nokia provides 3-D map data for Microsoft's online mapping services. It has partnered with Groupon, providing it with location information and location-targeted deals, CNET reported.
Nokia unveiled its new turn-by-turn navigation for mobile browsers this March.
Mapping services has become a major battleground for smartphone makers, with Apple removing Google Maps from its iOS 6 and giving users its own version, "Maps." This caused uproar, as Apple's "Maps" were inaccurate and faulty. Nokia's mapping services compete with the popular mapping service Google Maps. Location-based services are a growing industry and Nokia has invested millions for mapping services.
It remains to be seen whether this deal will help Oracle.
