Berlin, Germany and Seattle, USA, June 12, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today HERE , a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences, announced plans to acquire Medio Systems Inc., a Seattle-based company that is a pioneer in the emerging field of real-time predictive analytics.
Building on Medio's 'smart data' asset enables HERE to create contextual maps and location services that change according to the situation to provide highly personalized and predictive experiences for people and businesses. That could mean delivering individual restaurant recommendations to someone ready for lunch, giving drivers routes that match their driving style based on real-time conditions or helping businesses personalize their customer offerings.
"We are entering the age of what I call cognitive mapping, in which maps will understand their environment and anticipate people's intent in order to deliver interactive and smart location experiences," said Michael Halbherr, CEO of HERE. "We plan to extend Medio's talent and technology that analyzes millions of connected devices and billions of interactions on the go to strengthen our ability to deliver highly personalized maps and location services for whatever people face throughout their day."
Predictive analytics are an essential component of the HERE mission to provide the right map and services at the right moment across screens and operating systems. By acquiring Medio, HERE aims to achieve that mission by taking maps far beyond where they are today.
"We share the vision of HERE to deliver highly personalized and contextual maps and services," said Medio founder and CTO, Brian Lent and CEO Robert Lilleness. "Since our start nearly 10 years ago, Medio has led innovation in the analytics business. Companies from across industries already trust Medio to analyze people on the go to help them deliver more personalized services to their customers. With HERE we are poised to deliver on an expanded vision that puts our team squarely at the intersection of predictive analytics and location intelligence, while also reaching more companies."
In order to understand what a person might want and need in a given moment Medio, which has nearly 60 employees, mines vast amounts of real-time activity data now available from the proliferation of sensors and connected devices into actionable intelligence. Its cloud-based predictive analytics engine leads a fundamental shift in how big data is gathered and processed so that it becomes a valuable source of intelligence to help companies make better, automated business actions.
The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close by the end of July 2014. The terms of the transaction are confidential.
Following the acquisition, HERE intends to share Medio's technology, as relevant, with the other two businesses of the Nokia Group, Networks and Technologies, to further capitalize on the acquisition.
"We believe the 3rd Platform of computing, built on cloud, big data & analytics, mobile, and social is starting to move into its next phase", said Crawford Del Prete, EVP Worldwide research, IDC. "This next era of computing will be highly dependent on the personalization of services and products. The combination of HERE's at scale mapping platform and Medio's predictive analytics is very powerful, and an important part of how technology will transform everyday experiences in the future."
Read more: http://360.here.com
About HERE and Nokia
HERE, a Nokia company, is a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences. We combine highly accurate and fresh maps with cloud technology to enable rich, real-time location experiences in a broad range of connected devices - from smartphones and tablets to wearables and vehicles. To learn more about HERE, including our work in the areas of connected and autonomous driving, visit http://360.here.com
Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. We are focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field. http://company.nokia.com
Media Enquiries:
HERE, a Nokia company
Communications
Tel. +358 (0)10 448 4900
Email: press@here.com
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that Nokia and its business are exposed to various risks and uncertainties and certain statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) expectations, plans or benefits related to Nokia's new strategy; B) expectations, plans or benefits related to future performance of Nokia's continuing businesses Networks, HERE and Technologies; C) expectations, plans or benefits related to changes in leadership and operational structure; D) expectations regarding market developments, general economic conditions and structural changes; E) expectations and targets regarding performance, including those related to market share, prices, net sales and margins; F) the timing of the deliveries of our products and services; G) expectations and targets regarding our financial performance, cost savings and competitiveness as well as results of operations; H) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements; I) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation, disputes, regulatory proceedings or investigations by authorities; J) expectations regarding restructurings, investments, uses of proceeds from transactions, acquisitions and divestments and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such restructurings, investments, divestments and acquisitions, including any expectations, plans or benefits related to or caused by the transaction announced on September 3, 2013 where Nokia sold substantially all of Nokia's Devices & Services business to Microsoft on April 25, 2014 ("Sale of the D&S Business"); K) statements preceded by or including "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "sees," "target," "estimate," "designed," "aim", "plans," "intends," "focus", "continue", "project", "should", "will" or similar expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our ability to execute our new strategy successfully and in a timely manner, and our ability to successfully adjust our operations; 2) our ability to sustain or improve the operational and financial performance of our continuing businesses and correctly identify business opportunities or successfully pursue new business opportunities; 3) our ability to execute Networks' strategy and effectively, profitably and timely adapt its business and operations to the increasingly diverse needs of its customers and technological developments; 4) our ability within our Networks business to effectively and profitably invest in and timely introduce new competitive high-quality products, services, upgrades and technologies; 5) our ability to invent new relevant technologies, products and services, to develop and maintain our intellectual property portfolio and to maintain the existing sources of intellectual property related revenue and establish new such sources; 6) our ability to protect numerous patented standardized or proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 7) our ability within our HERE business to maintain current sources of revenue, historically derived mainly from the automotive industry, create new sources of revenue, establish a successful location-based platform and extend our location-based services across devices and operating systems; 8) effects of impairments or charges to carrying values of assets, including goodwill, or liabilities; 9) our dependence on the development of the mobile and communications industry in numerous diverse markets, as well as on general economic conditions globally and regionally; 10) our Networks business' dependence on a limited number of customers and large, multi-year contracts; 11) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 12) the potential complex tax issues and obligations we may face, including the obligation to pay additional taxes in various jurisdictions and our actual or anticipated performance, among other factors, could result in allowances related to deferred tax assets; 13) our ability to manage our manufacturing, service creation and delivery, and logistics efficiently and without interruption, especially if the limited number of suppliers we depend on fail to deliver sufficient quantities of fully functional products and components or deliver timely services; 14) potential exposure to contingent liabilities due to the Sale of the D&S Business and possibility that the agreements we have entered into with Microsoft may have terms that prove to be unfavorable to us; 15) any inefficiency, malfunction or disruption of a system or network that our operations rely on or any impact of a possible cybersecurity breach; 16) our ability to reach targeted results or improvements by managing and improving our financial performance, cost savings and competitiveness; 17) management of Networks' customer financing exposure; 18) the performance of the parties we partner and collaborate with, and our ability to achieve successful collaboration or partnering arrangements; 19) our ability to protect the technologies, which we develop, license, use or intend to use from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as, impact of possible licensing costs, restriction on our usage of certain technologies, and litigation related to intellectual property rights; 20) the impact of regulatory, political or other developments on our operations and sales in those various countries or regions where we do business; 21) exchange rate fluctuations, particularly between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the Chinese Yuan, as well as certain other currencies; 22) our ability to successfully implement planned transactions, such as acquisitions, divestments, mergers or joint ventures, manage unexpected liabilities related thereto and achieve the targeted benefits; 23) the impact of unfavorable outcome of litigation, contract related disputes or allegations of health hazards associated with our business, as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-35 of Nokia's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2013 under Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proven to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
HUG#1792501
