Vodafone to bid for Wayfinder

"Exciting new location-aware products and services" promised

9 December 2008 12:25 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Vodafone is to make a cash offer for a Swedish navigational software firm Wayfinder, that values the Swedish company at 239 million Swedish krona, around £19,800,000.

"This acquisition will enable Vodafone to develop its existing mobile navigation and products and services both more rapidly and more cost effectively. In addition, it will enable it to more closely integrate location-based functionality with other Vodafone products and services", IDC analyst Jonathan Arber said.

"This allows Vodafone to more easily combine existing customer information with location data as a driver for both personalised internet services, and potentially targeted advertising".

"The Wayfinder software enables mobile phones to display user-friendly maps as well as deliver voice directions to drivers in the same way as dedicated navigation devices", Pieter Knook, internet services director at Vodafone, said.

"Wayfinder's exceptional expertise in this space and technology capabilities will enable Vodafone to develop a suite of exciting new location-aware products and services".

Full tags

Biz, Vodafone, Wayfinder, Car And GPS, IDC, Software, Acquisitions