With the cell phone fast becoming an Internet entry point of choice, the handset maker is grappling with Google over the wireless Web…
“Though Google’s Android is a rival to Nokia’s S60 platform, adding Google to its search application is part of Nokia’s move to transform itself by controlling services and intends to include both to help ensure customer satisfaction…”
San Francisco — Nokia, the world’s largest handset maker, already allows searches by other search engines, will add Google Inc.’s search engine that consumers can access on some of its handsets and will work with Orange SA to promote its Internet services and boost sales of devices with Web access, the companies said on Tuesday.
“Nokia’s deal with Google does not give Google exclusivity.”
Nokia has similar deals in place with Yahoo and Microsoft around the world, and with Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia.
“Providing choices for our consumers is an important drive in Nokia’s Internet service strategy,” Ilkka Raiskinen, Nokia’s vice-president of software and services, said in a statement issued here at the Mobile World Congress wireless fair.
“The Mobile World Congress, underway through February 14 in Barcelona, Spain, puts the spotlight on mobile broadband gear, services, software, and strategies.”
The battle for Internet turf is no longer just a figure of speech. Nokia on Feb. 11 announced a quartet of new handsets designed to more closely link global positioning systems (GPS) with the mobile Internet, bringing the Finnish company into more direct competition with Google Maps and staking a bigger claim to the emerging market for so-called location-based services.
“The announcement came on the same day that Google encroached on Nokia territory by demonstrating a prototype of its Android operating system for mobile phones.”
Both companies are betting that where people are located will become an important part of how they use the Net. Nokia is trying to claim that arena with handsets such as its new, top-of-the-line N96. The device allows owners to shoot videos, “geotag” them with info about where the images were taken, and upload to a Nokia Web site that sounds suspiciously like Google’s YouTube.
As networks grow faster and most mobile phone handsets now come with Web browsers, Internet companies are moving aggressively to bring search, e-mail, mapping and other familiar online services to phones.
The Google search feature will be available on Nokia’s N96, N78, 6210 Navigator and 6220 Classic models introduced yesterday in select markets at first, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said in a statement.
Eventually, the Google search option will be accessible with other Nokia handsets later in more than 100 countries and more than 40 languages, Nokia said.
“The deal was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.”
“The service will be integrated with Nokia’s search application. Together with France Telecom SA’s Orange unit, Nokia will market its location-based services, maps, mobile advertising and games.”
“This also might be a bit of a defensive move in light of Android-based devices supposedly coming in the second half of 2008,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Nokia Search can access Web information, as well as content that is local to a device and on local search engines. The company said direct access is available on many of its devices with one click from the active standby screen. Retrieved information can be used by applications such as maps, messaging and the Web browser.
Nokia has moved into the services business through alliances with phone companies and content providers to win a share of revenue generated from downloads. The company is promoting its Ovi portal, which means “door” in Finnish, to attract wireless traffic to sell its games, maps and music.
“The Google deal looks like if you cannot beat them, better to join them,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics. With the Orange agreement, “Nokia looks to be getting more operator-friendly,” he said.
The tentative deal with Orange is Nokia’s third with a major European phone company after it announced plans to offer services such as music and games. Under an agreement with Vodafone Group Plc, customers can access all Vodafone’s and Nokia’s Internet services through a range of Nokia handsets.
The combination of Nokia applications and Google search can “provide an excellent overall experience,” said Google Vice President Vic Gundotra. He added that the “fast, relevant and comprehensive search experience” will be familiar to people who use Google to search the Web from their desktop.
“Nokia has collaborated with Google before, although Google is increasingly encroaching on its partner’s turf.”
Of course, the GPS-equipped phones also help people find their way around, using satellite signals as well as the cell-phone network to tell customers where they are and to provide travel directions.
A new feature gives instructions designed specifically for pedestrians, in contrast to the systems that provide driving directions now prevalent on the market. Thanks to Nokia’s planned acquisition of mapping software company Navteq, the cell-phone giant is gearing up to compete with Google in mapping as well.
Like everybody in the industry, Google is still feeling its way in the nascent mobile search and ads business, as evidenced by the company’s recent announcement of its partnership with Japanese cellular giant NTT DoCoMo.
In Barcelona this week, several chip manufacturers are displaying prototypes of mobile phones using Google’s Android software stack. If other phone manufacturers embrace Android, it could eventually pose a challenge to Nokia’s dominating share of the mobile market.
Nokia first integrated Google’s search engine on its Internet tablet PCs. The company also enabled support for Google’s YouTube video-sharing Web site on its popular N95 phone.
The Google search option will supplement Nokia’s Search software, which is free to download and compatible with a range of the company’s handsets. That search function can be used to find content on the phone as well as on the Internet.
Chris Hazelton, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, noted that the on-device search is controlled by Nokia and, when a user wants to search the Net, he or she is given several options — Yahoo, Microsoft Live Search, and now Google.
Nokia’s Internet plans have caused concern among some phone companies that revenue will be taken from them. Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile unit said yesterday that Nokia’s initiative confuses consumers.
Nokia has 40% of the global handset market and more than half of the smartphone market. That and its software prowess give the company great clout to determine the standards that will be used to access the Internet via handheld devices. “I do not know if we are in a position to decide,” Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia executive vice-president for markets, said in a statement. “But Nokia’s power position will certainly influence the development of different interfaces.”
Nokia shares gained 1.05 euros, or 4.3 percent, to 25.70 euros in Helsinki. The stock has dropped 3.1 percent this year, valuing Nokia at 102.4 billion euros ($149.5 billion).
“No financial details were disclosed for either agreement.”