Nokia purchases Plazes, a "location-tracking" service

Nokia has taken over German start-up Plazes, which provides location-based social networing services. Plazes has set up a database of WiFi hotspots all over the world that Plazes users can manually add geotags to. When you login to Plazes from such a hot spot, the software recognizes that another user has been there and adds this information to the database.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2008. Plazes will then be part of Nokia's Services & Software Division. Niklas Savander, who heads the division, explains in a press release that the acquisition "helps Nokia to accelerate its vision of bringing people and places closer together, in line with our broader services strategy"..

With headquarters in Zurich and the development office in Berlin, Plazes will add time and location data to social networking, as Nokia puts it, "through features that allow people to alert friends of their activity and location; review their own and others' past activities; share their experiences and make plans with friends, who are then able to respond with comments and suggestions as well as their own location information".

Last August, Nokia announced that it would take "radical steps" to expand its business model. In addition to making devices, the Finns want to start providing more services, such as music purchases from mobile devices. Now, Nokia says that 13 Plazes employees will contribute to the further development of social activity services within the group.

(trk)