Nokia invents social networking mapping

Nokia were not the first to invent social mapping

The originating inventor of social mapping was myself with a UK patent application dated 16th January 1989 culminating in three US patents 5,712,679; 6,181,373; 6,469,735 and one Japanese patent; 2896930. But I could never find funding, (A VERY long story). The first corporate use of social mapping was by Epson, in the shape of the Seiko-Epson LOCATIO system that, I am told by my Japanese Patent Agent, they abandoned upon the grant of my Japanese patent. But by then they were about a decade behind me, but with massive investment. Something I could never receive being in the UK where the idea of someone, anyone, having a new idea worth long term investment was, as today, laughed at.......... I have taken this from the Epson web site.

http://www.epson.co.jp/e/newsroom/tech_news/tnl070830.htm

"Remarkably, the GPS semiconductor technology used in all the handsets was supplied by one company: Epson. To date, Epson has shipped more than 10 million of the GPS devices to manufacturers of 3G handsets.

"We were thrilled with this major design-in win," says Yutaka Kitazawa, General Manager of Epson's GPS Business Development Department. "It was a reward for a decade of pioneering research and development."

After Epson established the GPS business unit in 1995, Kitazawa's group came up with idea of creating a multifunction handheld device comprising a personal digital assistant or PDA, digital camera, mobile phone, and GPS that would work on low power. Dubbed the Locatio, the device was launched in 1998 together with both an e-mail service and a mapping service aimed at making the GPS technology more useful. "It was a revolutionary device," says Kitazawa. "Unfortunately, it was ahead of its time for most consumers. Still, we learned a lot from the experience."

The reality is that NOKIA are about twenty years behind the curve and do not own all the rights to which they are now addressing their efforts.