Nokia Wants Apple to Buy Its Maps Unit

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Posted April 23, 2015 at 2:07am by Shalom Levytam

Nokia is selling its maps business and it's looking to Apple and several other big names including Alibaba, Amazon, and Facebook for bids, reports Bloomberg.

Those companies as well as Facebook Inc., a group of German carmakers, and private-equity firms are among the companies looking at Nokia’s maps operations, known as HERE, highlighting the ubiquity and utility of location-based services. Nokia is seeking more than 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) from a sale of the unit, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

Nokia's mapping assets have lost a lot value since the company bought them for $8.1 billion in 2008. Last year they were worth about 2 billion euros.

The company is looking to sell the business and focus on mobile-network equipment and services. It just acquired Alcatel-Lucent for 15.6 billion euros, creating the world's largest supplier of equipment for mobile-phone networks. First-round bids for the mapping unit are due at the end of next week, according to sources.

Do you think Apple could benefit from adding Nokia's mapping data? Nokia Here offers an offline navigation solution for the iPhone. Let us know if you use the app. How accurate do u find it compared to Apple Maps? You can download HERE from the App Store for free.

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Lumia1020 - April 25, 2015 at 4:13am

I have it on nokia lumia phone. Best navigation system I have used, including google and car nav. Btw supports most local langueges as well.

gamerscul9870 - April 25, 2015 at 1:02pm

It isn't as good as you expect. Look at the rating of Google Maps and Apple Maps, did I forget to mention the simple paying solution with Touch ID? Not to mention all the apps to find and actual textures for the OS itself. Btw my personal assistant can recognize songs when it hears any song played.

normatta - April 24, 2015 at 7:31am

HERE maps is so far accurate on offline navigation. It will be very useful if Apple would further enhance it.

Steve Gate - April 24, 2015 at 5:27am

Apple made a big mistake by not acquiring WAZE...

gamerscul9870 - April 24, 2015 at 3:51pm

You made the biggest mistake by not accepting the fact they tried.

NormNZ - April 23, 2015 at 10:11am

I use the HERE app on my iPhone 6, and it is awesome. So I hope Apple will consider buying it, as being able to use the app while offline is very useful, especially if travelling.

Jacob - April 23, 2015 at 9:52am

Have you been reading the other posts? There is a lot of places Apple does not have maps for. Nokia has almost every location. For somebody on T-Mobile like yourself, having offline map support would be a good thing.

Wolverinemarky - April 23, 2015 at 7:11am

Can't see apple dropping that amount of money. I mean if they didn't buy WAZE doubt they would be interested in buying Nokia map division

thejett - April 23, 2015 at 11:00am

Apple did try to buy WAZE...

Wolverinemarky - April 24, 2015 at 1:09am

Yea but you have to remember this is apple other then beats they don't drop billions for anything and that's what Nokia is looking for. I rather they spent billions on WAZE then HERE.

thejett - April 24, 2015 at 1:40am

Oh, I agree on that! or do something to fix their Maps and Siri (and their Bluetooth functionality)

Rawl - April 23, 2015 at 4:38am

From india- HERE maps are the next thing to google maps here. Apple has almost zero content for its maps here. Wud be greatly useful if apple buys out HERE maps.

Cybersoldier - April 23, 2015 at 2:59am

From Sydney, HERE maps are amazing, accurate and easy to use. Real GPS functionality = great!!! One feature could be included and that is showing where the camera traps are...maybe its just me that has not set it up properly.

Chris - April 23, 2015 at 2:30am

Yes! HERE maps are amazing. I can download maps and search and get directions without data or wifi. Apple would greatly benefit from this.