Nokia confirms: Amazon has licensed its Location Platform for maps and geocoding
It's not that a big surprise anymore, after Reuters earlier reported that Amazon teamed up with Nokia for mapping services, but to my knowledge the Finnish smartphone and mobile software maker has never actually confirmed this to date.
Context & Ripple Effects
Reuters had already reported the pairing; what changes today is that Nokia itself confirms Amazon has licensed its Location Platform for maps and geocoding, turning rumor into a named customer relationship. The deal extends a licensing arc Nokia opened in May 2012, when it brought live traffic advice and geocoding to Bing.
The timing is pointed on both sides. Amazon has just launched the upgraded Kindle Fire HD as a challenger to Apple's iPad and Google's Nexus 7, and unlike those rivals it has no in-house map stack to lean on. Nokia, meanwhile, is waiting on Microsoft's unfinished Windows Phone 8 before its own high-visibility phone launch — making outside licensees a welcome revenue line. The story traveled widely the same day, picked up by Engadget, VentureBeat, Wired and others.
First-order effects
- Amazon gains maps and geocoding for its Kindle ecosystem without depending on Google's mapping stack, closing a capability gap days after the Kindle Fire HD launch.
- Nokia adds a marquee paying licensee to its Location Platform at a moment when its own device business is hostage to Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 timeline.
Second-order effects
- Google's Maps advantage on Android tablets looks less decisive if rival device makers can simply buy comparable location data, shifting the battleground from data ownership to distribution.
- Other hardware makers watching the deal now see Nokia's maps as an off-the-shelf component, widening Nokia's licensing funnel beyond Microsoft and Bing.
Third-order effects
- If the licensing pattern holds, map data consolidates into a business-to-business infrastructure layer sold independently of handsets — a structural hedge for Nokia as its phone fortunes waver.
- Device ecosystems increasingly assemble their software stacks from licensed components rather than building everything in-house, with location emerging as one of the first commodities traded between them.
The trend: Nokia is converting its mapping assets into a licensed platform business whose customers — Microsoft, now Amazon — no longer depend on Nokia selling phones of its own.