Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

Nokia is reported that the company has sold HERE mapping service for a figure of $3.07 billion USD to German auto consortium which consists of Audi AG, BMW Group as well as Daimler AG. The deal is expected to finalize in the first quarter of 2016 with profit of about $2.75 Billion.

One of the reasons that can be concluded on why the automakers are willing to purchase the service as such a huge amount is that they are expected to use the data generated from it for the cars that they are developing so that the cars can navigate themselves based on the data. The mapping service also expected to be available across multiple platforms.

With the deal went through successfully, Nokia is expected to concentrate on the bought over of Alcatel-Lucent which after this is finalized, it will make Nokia a world leading network technology and services business as well as licensing and innovation of Nokia Technologies as mentioned by Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia.

HERE is reported to receive about $606 million USD and had an operating profit of $30.7 million USD during the first half of 2015. This is definitely is a good news as the service suffered a loss in 2014. According to the last year’s report, the service received about $1.07 billion USD and written off certain things out of goodwill which cost about $1.33 billion USD and thus the company made an operating loss of $1.36 billion.

Moving forward, Nokia is expected to design and license smartphones in 2016 as per the agreement with Microsoft.

Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

BMW Developing AR Driving Glasses to Help You Drive Better for Mini

BMW has come up with an augmented reality glasses for the company’s subsidiary company, Mini. The research prototype has already finished and currently it enters testing period. The glasses will have an old-fashioned goggle design concept as designed by BMW with the help of AR-focused design firm Osterhout Design Company.

The device is powered by Qualcomm 805 Snapdragon processor and a 2GB RAM with two HD displays. The control functions are activated by buttons on top of the frames.  The glasses will be able to show navigation details, speed and other information overlaid onto a heads-up display. On top of that users will be able to connect it to the smartphone via Mini’s app which then can be used to receive incoming calls by using controls on the steering wheels. Moreover, it is able to do texts.

The glasses are designed not only to be used mainly in the car, however, there is a feature to guide drivers from their parking spot to their destination and back again. According to Mashable, the glasses are able to recognize the address on the promotional flyer. On top of that there are additional cameras at the side of the car which will help drivers to check blind sports or aid them with parallel parking.

However, there are things that need to be improved as it is just a prototype. One thing is that when the prototype was used for 15 minutes and including a brief calibration process, the device becomes considerably hot.

BMW Developing AR Driving Glasses to Help You Drive Better for Mini