www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The free navigation service provided by Google and Nokia has taken a toll on Vodafone which has announced the closure of its navigation business. Wayfinder, a Swedish navigational software firm was bought by Vodafone in December 2008 at a price of $30 million (19.8 million pounds). The closure will result in the loss of 95 jobs across Sweden, Romania and Britain.
After the introduction of free services in the last six months, commercial proposition for navigational services had completely changed and existing customers on the Vodafone offering will be moved over to new services provided by partners such as handset makers.
After the announcement of Google and Nokia’s plans, the business model of providing paid-for turn-by-turn navigation services has come under pressure.
Vodafone entered the navigation business in its drive to grow mobile data revenues as the mobile market became saturated.