Today at the Nokia mapping event, CEO Steven Elop announced that the company would be bringing its Here maps to iOS in the form of an app that displays its new HTML5-based solution.
The app has been submitted and still requires Apple’ approval. Nokia’s Michael Halbherr, the Nokia VP in charge of Here, said that it expects it in the ‘next couple of weeks. The product appears to have guided walking directions, but not driving directions currently.
The New York Times has a couple more details on the app, in that it will be a free download for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The Times has Elop saying that the platform will need scale to be available at ‘the highest quality’, which is why it is offering up its maps for other platforms. “Of course, Nokia will build apps, some of them unique to Lumia devices, that gain a competitive advantage for Nokia,” he added.
The iOs app will include voice-guided transportation and walking directions, both things that Apple does not offer. It will also have offline support, allowing users to select a local region and pre-download the maps for that region in advance.
Apple’s mapping solution, of course, has come under fire for being a relatively incomplete solution when compared to Google’s maps on Android. But it still offers more features than Apple’s previous implementation of Google Maps.
Image Credit: MARKKU ULANDER/Getty Images
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