At its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, Apple announced it was moving to its own mapping solution in lieu of Google Maps —a platform the company has used since 2007. According to a report by Reuters this evening, Amazon looks to make a similar move for its upcoming second-generation Kindle Fire. Moving away from Google Maps, Amazon will reportedly team with Nokia to offer maps on the tablet.
Amazon is expected to introduce the second-generation Kindle Fire at its event next week. It is rumored to feature a GPS chip that will make mapping capabilities possible, thus making sense for a partnership. We assume Amazon ditched the idea of Google because of Mountain View’s direct competition in the market. Google offers a $199 Nexus 7 tablet, priced competitively with the Kindle Fire, but since the Kindle Fire is a custom version of Android, it seems a little odd that Google would be left in the dust. However, business is business. Microsoft announced earlier this summer that it was ditching its own mapping platform for Nokia maps in Windows 8. Amazon wants some of that Nokia Kool-Aid. We will be covering next week’s event to let you know what is official.
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