Get lost, fanbois: Nokia pulls HERE Maps from Apple's App Store

Nokia has told Apple fanbois to get lost after removing its popular HERE Maps app from the iOS App Store.

The Finnish former mobe-maker grumpily blamed its decision on iOS 7, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system.

"We have made the decision to remove our Here Maps app from the Apple App Store because recent changes to iOS 7 harm the user experience," Nokia said in a statement.

"iPhone users can continue to use the mobile web version of Here Maps under m.here.com., offering them core location needs, such as search, routing, orientation, transit information and more, all completely free of charge."

True to Nokia's word, we could still access HERE Maps using an iPhone web brower, although lazy fanbois would no doubt prefer to have a nice big button to click rather than a long old web address to type in.

HERE is wildly popular on Windows phones, where it comes pre-installed, and is probably one of Nokia's killer pieces of mobile software, but for the most part, it has failed to pull users away from old faithful Google Maps.

Anyone using Windows phones can still use HERE, which is handy because Microsoft has licensed it for 10 years. The mapping division will be a core part of Nokia's denuded business, which will look significantly smaller when Redmond's acquisition of the Finnish firm's smartphone production division is complete.

Apple has a long and sad history with maps apps. When its own Maps software wasn't directing hapless drivers onto airport runways, it was rather rudely deleting whole towns.

Nokia also has a long and occasionally sad history with mobile phones, although its Windows phones recently made ground on Apple in Europe. According to recent stats, Nokia's phones now account for about 10 per cent of all mobe sales in Europe, while Apple's share shrunk from 20.8 per cent to 15.8 per cent. ®