They need to give it away for free for X months, and extend that period periodically, for as long as OVI Maps is still lagging behind Google Maps in adoption. That may turn out to be forever (and at a later date, they may have to make that extension explicitly permanent, instead of "we're extending it another 3 months").

Right now, they need to gain market share and mind share. They aren't going to get that by charging for something someone else is giving away for free. They can charge for a "pro" version that offers advantages that Google doesn't (voice searching, etc.), but for the basics, they're going to need to be free. (btw: Google tends to do the same thing: many/most of their free services have "for pay" enhanced versions -- such as if you want higher quotas, or better anti-spam/anti-virus features, you can pay to have that).

They also need (for all of the OVI services) to emphasize the privacy angle. That they don't track your travel information, usage patterns, nor sell it to partners (marketing or otherwise). And they need to specifically differentiate themselves from Google when they say it. Further, they need to follow through on the behavior (ie. don't track usage patterns, travel patterns, and don't sell what information they have to their partners).

Basically, if they want to compete with Google's free services, they have to bill themselves as a service for "the privacy conscious, unlike Google" (though, obviously, only for the "moderately privacy conscious" -- the tinfoil hat people will always either avoid services they can't run themselves, or be Luddites). Google will fire back about how they're also privacy conscious ... when it comes to things like Govt Subpoenas, but Nokia will have to play up the "but not when it comes to things like tracking marketing uses" aspect. But, frankly, that's the main means of differentiating yourself from Google, with some form of value add.

Meanwhile, OVI/Nokia will still have to offer things in a manner that is competitive with Google: cross platform (ie. OVI cannot stick to just supporting Windows users), and the basics are free. For Google, "the basics are free" recovers value by how they use your information. For OVI, "the basics are free" will recover value by ... competing with Google (and, hopefully, by stealing market share from Google, starting with privacy conscious individuals). That's just the price of trying to compete with a free service. It's part of the overhead of marketing a service ... just like advertising.

Once Nokia is able to establish OVI as a competitve service, with a stable and sustainable market share ... THEN they can talk about how they might be able to charge for the basics. But, until then, charging for the basics will just make them "not a competitive offering compared to Google". That's true whether it's maps, mail, music, or whatever. Anything Google offers for free, OVI will have to offer for free.

And just like Google subsidizes that free service with money it makes elsewhere (ads, add-on services, etc.), Nokia will have to subsidize that free service with money it makes elsewhere (handset sales, patent revenue, etc.).