Nokia to give away satnav software.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Nokia is taking the dramatic step of making its satellite navigation software free to all current and future owners of its smartphones as the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer intensifies its fight against Apple's iPhone and handsets using Google's Android platform.

The Finnish company, which makes roughly four out of every 10 phones sold worldwide, spent €6.5bn (GBP5.6bn) on map firm Navteq in 2007, but from today will let anyone with a GPS-enabled Nokia device -- such as its N95 or N97 handsets -- download its navigation service and maps for free from its Ovi mobile application store. To date, Nokia has sold more than 80m compatible handsets worldwide.

Full satnav direction …