Mobile Phones Blog

Sony Ericsson navigates UK handset mapping deal

October 7th, 2008 by Peter

Sony Ericsson has cut a deal with UK company Mobile Commerce to get itself into the mapping business in the UK, joining in with its “Near Me” program for finding businesses which are near GPS enabled phones. It plans to bring the service to market based on its new 8.1 megapixel Cyber-shot C905 and also make it available to download onto its GPS enabled C702 Cyber-shot and W760 Walkman handsets.

Unlike Nokia which has acquired Navteq, and Google with its Maps services, Sony Ericsson does not have a global provider for local attractions and has decided that this is making a different here in the UK.

In the past Mobile Commerce has provided mobile local search systems relating to specific UK locations through strategic partnerships with Thomson, Multimap, The Press Association and The AA.

The “Near Me” service is implemented through a simple Java download, which will be factory installed on the C905 and provides users with detailed information on local businesses, amenities, venues and events, all based on the handset owners current location using GPS.

Sony Ericsson will provide the application for free, and it will point to cinemas, clubs and other entertainment listings and over 11,000 recommended venues for eating and drinking plus the whereabouts of 1.9 million businesses, all optimised for Multimap mapping.

The lookup includes, name, address and phone number in a clock to call format, and more detailed information such as film reviews, prices and show times for entertainment venues an of course a map.

David Hilton Head of Marketing, Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland, said: “Creating a Java application with best of breed content was a key objective to showcase our GPS handsets to our prime target market. Following an extensive market search we selected Mobile Commerce as our application partner and we are delighted with the ‘NearMe’ application and have already defined a roadmap of enhancements to bring even more functionality and choice to our customers.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 12:21 pm and is filed under General, Nokia, Sony Ericsson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.