Nokia Drive bootlegged to run on other Windows Phones
updated 10:50 pm EDT, Sat November 5, 2011
Nokia Drive gets hacked 3rd-party support
Nokia's signature Windows Phone mapping tool, Nokia Drive, has already escaped into the wild. Anecdotes from a WMPoweruser reader have shown the turn-by-turn GPS app running on a Samsung Omnia 7 and have said the app package, or XAP, works on other phones. It's not clear what Nokia can do to keep the app in check, although it may try requiring later versions to get map data.
Loading the app may have been made easier by the launch of the ChevronWP7 jailbreak tool, which allows non-Marketplace apps without having to pay for a full account. It doesn't address the root cause of hacked phones, however, and ChevronWP7 isn't required to hack the phone into supporting more apps.
Pirated apps aren't unheard of on Windows Phone. They're considerably less common, however, both due to the smaller community and a store model that streamlines buying apps more so than in Android.
