Nokia's revamped navigation app, HERE, will be landing on iOS early next year, according to a company blog post that also announced the official launch of its Android version. HERE will enter a crowded field that includes Apple Maps, Google Maps, and titles from established navigation companies such as Garmin and TomTom.
/article-new/2014/12/here-android.jpg?lossy)
Nokia says its decision to bring the app to Apple's mobile platform is the result of heightened interest in an iOS version following a successful Android beta trial.
Following the positive reviews of HERE for Android, a lot of people have expressed their interest in an iOS version of our app. We really appreciate this interest and demand. Our iOS app development team is working hard on this and we plan to officially launch HERE for iOS in early 2015.
HERE originally launched in 2012 and was removed from the App Store in late 2013 due to incompatibilities with iOS 7. An earlier report from The Wall Street Journal claimed Nokia was in the final stages of development a new version of the iOS app with a launch likely before the end of 2014, but the schedule has apparently been pushed back somewhat. Details on the iOS version of app are sparse, but it is expected to be free and offer offline navigation and searching.
Top Rated Comments
How often do you use it? The Apple Maps POI database still sucks.
Within 20 seconds of reading your post, I went into Apple Maps, entered "Walgreens", hit Search, and it showed that there are seven Walgreens stores within a 15 mile radius of my location. I went into the Walgreens app and it showed 10 stores within the same radius of my location. That's three Walgreens stores that are nowhere to be found in my area using Apple Maps. And they were a huge Apple Pay launch partner, for God's sake! Apple Maps is still a big embarrassment, as far as I'm concerned.
Not that Google Maps is any picnic right now, either. It has a nasty bug where it will automatically reroute you to slower or longer routes for seemingly no reason at all without telling you that it has done so. Maybe HERE Maps will cause both Apple and Google to get their acts together. We can only hope.
HERE today, gone tomorrow.
*waits for it all*