Smartphone manufacturer HTC has joined forces with provider of location and navigation solutions TomTom to bring world-class navigation services to a range of its handsets.

HTC and TomTom announced in a joint statement that smartphone manufacturer’s new mapping service HTC Locations would come preloaded with TomTom's location-rich maps.

To begin with, the service will be available on the Android-based HTC Desire and HTC Desire Z smartphones only, but gradually it will roll out to future handsets.

Commenting on the move, TomTom’s managing director Maarten van Gool said, “I am very pleased to be providing HTC customers with TomTom's accurate location and navigation content on their phones wherever they are.”

The TomTom maps and locations will be freely and automatically available on the HTC handsets, but users wanting turn-by-turn directions will still require purchasing them via HTC Locations or HTC Sync.

The partnership will help the GPS manufacturer TomTom, which suffered a year-on-year fall of 19.3 million euros in net profit for the third-quarter. On the other hand, sales of HTC handsets are also expected to gain a boost from the deal.