Microsoft and Nokia announced they are working together to put a version of Microsoft’s Office productivity applications on Nokia handsets.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will begin working together immediately to design, develop and market productivity applications for mobile professionals, bringing Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia’s Symbian devices.
The applications will be available first on Nokia’s Eseries phones, which are optimized for the business market, but eventually will extend to other Nokia handsets. Putting Office applications on Nokia handsets is a savvy business move for Microsoft, and will also help both companies compete against their mutual rivals Apple and Research in Motion.
Many experts expect that this could result in a wide range of quality mobile devices and still have the same seamless integration with the Exchange, Office Communications Server, Microsoft Office applications and other Microsoft backend servers and applications.
However, some say this means the failure of Windows Mobile.
It’s not easy to predict who will be right, but time will tell.
