Nokia to Support Firefox OS With Maps

Nokia says it has entered into a partnership with Mozilla and intends to support the upcoming Firefox OS with a maps application.

There was no indication that Nokia would be leaving its Windows Phone-only strategy as a smartphone platform anytime soon, but we've learned that Nokia will be branching out its location services and offer it under the "here" brand for iOS, Android, as well as Firefox OS. As far as Mozilla is concerned, Nokia describes its relationship as a "strategic partnership". For now, the purpose is to "give people the best mapping experience on Firefox OS".

Limiting its mapping service to Windows 8 would be, of course, silly for Nokia and a reach well beyond Windows Phone will be necessary to tap into additional and meaningful revenue sources. There is now the rather obvious rumor how far that strategic partnership will go. Could Nokia be considering other operating systems besides Windows Phone for its smartphones - and potentially aggravate Microsoft?

Common sense suggests that Nokia should be moving to a much more flexible business model with a choice of operating systems sooner rather than later, but given Nokia's dire situation it could already be too late for such a move as the company is clearly running out of time.

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