Free navigation software proves to be an attractive proposition for mobile users

(Nokia)

Nokia's free Ovi Maps application is proving to be a crowd pleaser with mobile phone users across the globe. According to Nokia, its mobile mapping application is being downloaded at an average rate of one app per second.

More than 1.4 million people have downloaded the software since it was launched on January 21, announced Nokia on February 3, with more than one million of those downloads taking place during the first week of release.

"When we announced free walk & drive navigation we knew it would be a game-changer. The number of people now using their Nokia for navigation, and as a result looking for more location-aware software, is growing faster than even we predicted," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia.

People living in China with Nokia handsets were the most likely to download the software reported the company, followed by Italy, UK, Germany and Spain.

According to the world's largest cross platform app store, GetJar (http://www.getjar.com), some of the most popularly downloaded applications include eBuddy (38,836,768 downloads), Facebook Mobile, (37,270,447 downloads), and Opera Mini 4 (24,488,289 downloads).