The Closure of the Vodafone Wayfinder; Google Maps Navigation is the Culprit

The battle between Google Earth Maps and Nokia Ovi Maps over their free map software was well known, but nobody was aware of the casualties that resulted.

It looks like Vodafone was compelled to terminate the Wayfinder, for which they apparently paid $30 million

Well, we never knew the reasons for a cell phone carrier’s interest in purchasing a mapmaker. It is a lucrative market, of course, but indubitably dominated by Nokia and Google.

Vodafone must have considered Ovi Maps’ and Google’s impacts on the share prices of Garmin and TomTom

Anna Cloke from Vodafone, when asked about the closure of Wayfinder, remarked that they could not charge for something that is given away by others, at no cost.

The question is: Is this the final casualty?