Microsoft and Nokia gang up on Blackberry
NOKIA and Microsoft yesterday unveiled an alliance which will see Nokia smartphones pre-loaded with Microsoft office, in a bid to challenge the dominance of the Blackberry in the business market.
The software and mobile telecoms giants said that they are working together to put MS Office Mobile, MS Communicator Mobile and other services on selected Nokia handsets, in a bid to “create choice for mobile professionals”.
The two companies, at one time fierce rivals in the mobile telecommunications business, expect to offer Nokia phones running Office – which includes Powerpoint, Word and Excel – sometime next year, starting with the Nokia E Series.
Nokia’s executive vice-president of devices, Kai Öistämö, denied that the collaboration was a move to compete with Apple’s iPhone in the US.
“It is about creating a formidable challenge to Research In Motion’s Blackberry,” he said. “And we have only just scratched the surface with what we have announced today. This is far more than just putting Microsoft software on Nokia phones.”
But both Öistämö and Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft Business division, reiterated their commitment to their competing mobile telephone operating systems, Windows Mobile and Symbian.
“Nokia and Microsoft do compete in some areas and will continue to do so,” Elop said.
“With more than 200m smartphone customers globally, Nokia is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer and a natural partner for us,” he added.