Microsoft India launched its map services on November 3 and joined the league of Google and Yahoo!.
"Live Search Maps for India will allow users to search for geographical information, places of general interest and business listings both on the PC and on mobile phones," Microsoft India Consumer and Online Marketing Operations Head Rishi Srivastava told reporters in New Delhi.
Similar services are already being offered by its rivals Google, Yahoo! and domestic firms like MapMyIndia. The first version of the local mapping service for India has been developed by Microsoft's India Development Centre in Hyderabad.
Microsoft's map services will offer detailed listings and street maps for nine cities, business listings across 29 cities and access to highway networks to 20,000 cities and towns. The nine cities include the four metros along with Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Jaipur.
Talking about the revenue model, Srivastava said, "The service is free for consumers. We will generate revenues through advertisements but that will be later. Currently, we are focusing on generating unique consumer experience to have people using the service."
The service will allow the user see business listings across 29 major cities like Pune, Agra, Allahabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Nagpur, Nasik, Patiala, Patna, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Vishakapatnam.
"In the near future, we plan to add new features such as landmark-based driving directions, satellite imagery and related features for India," IDC General Manager (Live Search and MSN Technologies) Gurpreet Pall said.