Uber in Plans to Buy Nokia HERE Service for $3 Billion Bid

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Uber is looking to find a way to minimize its reliance on Google Maps. As per a report, the taxi-booking app service has presented a bid to acquire Nokia’s HERE location based service.

Till date, Uber is the most valuable global tech startups. The firm depends a lot on Google Maps as it presents maps at the center of the service. The information is collected by the cabs that operate under it and a major portion of the maps, traffic details and navigation information used by Uber are sourced from Google. However, the firm also uses mapping data from Apple.

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Right now, Uber is focusing to grow from a cab booking service to some sort of a logistics firm. For the same, Nokia’s mapping service might play a major role in helping the firm achieve its goals.

As per the report, HERE has over 80 percent of the global market share in the in-car navigation systems. The firm is shelling out several millions of dollars annually to update its maps.

Uber has provided $3 billion for Nokia’s HERE, but the other competing bids are from a group Germany based automobile makers such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW and an unidentified private equity firm. The details of the sale will be announced by Nokia sometime this month.

Source: The New York Times