Post date: Nov 13, 2013 2:2:46 PM
Russia's top search engine Yandex launches a global maps service for Russian speakers.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 13, 2013) (REUTERS) - Russia's biggest search engine Yandex on Tuesday (November 12) launched a global maps service to compete with Google Maps.
The company, which leads the world's biggest search engine Google in Russia with a market share of about 62 percent, presented the service to journalists in a Moscow auditorium."It's become normal to travel abroad on holiday. A lot of people go abroad just for the weekend to visit friends. Some people work abroad, and people want to see the world, and we want to show the world, as it is to people. A world that isn't limited by normal confines - endless, intelligent, disturbing, and interesting. Today we are announcing the launch of a new version of Yandex world maps," Yandex Maps head Andrei Strelkov said.
The overhauled service is supposed to be more accurate and Updated more frequently than previously, according to Yandex.
"We launched a new detailed map of the world. We launched a very fast map of four key countries where Russian-language Yandex has a presence, and we launched a world map that's scientifically produced, universal, and adaptive to local features, and has a convenient design," Strelkov added.
Yandex's map service is currently used by a reported 16 million people daily.
Yandex raised $1.4 billion in an oversubscribed initial public offering in New York in May 2011 that was priced at $25 per share.
The shares closed at $41 on Wednesday.