Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) hopes to capitalise on Apple’s (AAPL) faulty maps

When companies goof up, rivals waste no opportunity to capitalize on that, especially when it happens in a segment witnessing hectic competition and players are fighting bitterly over market share.

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’s error-prone mapping software is being seen as a huge opportunity by Nokia Corporation (ADR)(NYSE:NOK) to push the reliability of its navigational software that it has spent billions of dollars in acquiring and then improving on it.

The European cell phone maker had bought map provider Navteq in 200 for $8 billion, while it has a vast army of developers who are working on improving the product and constantly updating it. The navigation and location services are in-house unlike Apple which has outsourced location data to companies such as TomTom and OpenStreetMap.

Nokia has taken a determined stance to win back market share in the smartphone segment that it has lost to companies such as Apple and Samsung. The Finnish handset maker which is otherwise content to be working on its products, is now poking fun at Apple in various social media forums.

It is also promoting its mapping software's superiority over that of its competitors.

The criticism that Apple has been receiving over its maps is expected to translate it appreciation of Nokia's advantages in that direction, according to Michael Halbherr, head of Nokia’s location and commerce unit, Bloomberg reported.

“What I love and what I think has happened is that the discussion has moved to quality and moved away from ‘I have a map app you have a map app,’” Bloomberg quoted Halbherr as saying. “People start looking at how precise it is.”

                                                                                                                                       

Mapping and location services are becoming more important mobile devices owners, who are relying more on their handhelds than ever before to hep them in commuting.