A 3D view of the Singapore Esplanade as viewed from Nokia's Ovi Maps.

CORP TALK: So Nokia’s gone and announced a new version of Ovi Maps, which is incidentally free for life. Yes, you heard that right. Where Nokia used to charge a certain amount for voice navigation either daily, weekly, monthly and so forth, you now get it free of charge.

A screenshot from the Lonely Planet guide that comes with Ovi Maps.

Better yet, it’s free in 74 countries and in 46 languages. There’s more: Nokia’s also throwing in free detailed maps for all 180 countries they support (via Navteq), with 10 of those countries having traffic information.

This looks like an intentional shot across the bow of personal navigation device (PND) makers such as Garmin, as Nokia plans to roll out the new Ovi Maps across their entire lineup of GPS-enabled mobile devices, past and present.

All the way back to the venerable Nokia N95, Nokia has shipped approximately 83 million GPS-enabled devices since; that’s no small number.

With Nokia deciding to throw in their maps for free is also quite stunning, especially if you consider that many PND vendors make a business out of selling maps of different countries to their customer base.

Before the break, here’s a video highlighting features from Ovi Maps:

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