Software giant Microsoft has teamed up with handset manufacturer Nokia to push further into the business smartphone sector by introducing the Office suite of software products to mobiles.
The move is a direct attack on Research in Motion’s BlackBerry devices, which dominate the smartphone sector in the US and have provided document editing solutions for years.
The two companies said in a statement the most recent versions of Microsoft Office applications, which include Word, Excel and PowerPoint, will be available on a range of Nokia handsets.
“This is giving some of our competitors – let’s spell it out, RIM – a run for their money,” said Nokia executive vice president Robert Andersson, in a conference call.
“I don’t think BlackBerry has seen the kind of competition we can provide them now.”
“Today’s announcement will enable us to expand Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia smartphone owners worldwide and allow them to collaborate on Office documents from anywhere, as part of our strategy to provide the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser,” said Microsoft business president Stephen Elop.
Both Microsoft and Nokia are facing competition from Google. The free Google Apps suite is threatening Microsoft Office, which prompted the software giant to release a free alternative. While Microsoft provides Office software on Windows Mobile phones, the operating system only holds 9% of the market.
Meanwhile, Google’s Android mobile operating system is continuing to spread across the handset market, potentially threatening Nokia’s reach.
But the new deal may be a solution to both companies’ problems. Nokia holds about 45% of the smartphone market in the US, compared to Research in Motion’s 17%. This new tie-up will give Nokia and Microsoft enough exposure to threaten the dominance of the BlackBerry, and slow the spread of Google’s products.
There was some speculation before the announcement was made that Nokia would abandon its Symbian operating system and instead switch to Windows Mobile, but Andersson refuted that claim.
“We are extremely committed to Symbian,” he said. “This is very clear. This is a multi-year collaboration building on Symbian. We are as committed as before, if not more.”
Nokia handsets featuring Microsoft Office applications are expected to be released during 2010 on “E” series handsets, with more handsets to be made compatible over time.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
