Nokia buddies up with Microsoft to woo enterprise customers
By Dave Jeyes
Nokia and Microsoft are expanding their partnership bringing Microsoft Activesync and Exchange email to their handsets. Nokia’s goal is to unseat RIM’s Blackberry as the leading Corporate mobile device provider and the global handset maker may just pull it off.
The two companies have already been working together to bring enterprise email capability to the Nokia e-series line of business handsets. Now, anyone with an S60 device will be able to access email from Microsoft Exchange email servers.
So far, Blackberry has led the industry in providing on-demand, secure email solutions for corporate customers. However, RIM is a fairly small handset company in comparison to Nokia, who leads in overall global market share of handsets.
This deal doesn’t just pertain to new handsets that are being sold to enterprise customers either. Nokia is releasing a software package that will allow users to install the email functionality with only four clicks at no cost to current customers.
This move could spurn an uptake in mobile email for companies in Europe and Asia where RIM’s Blackberry does not have nearly as strong a foothold. Combine Nokia’s market share with the prevalence of Microsoft Exchange as an Enterprise email solution and the deal creates a tremendous market opportunity with major companies around the world.
Nokia has been creating a flurry of news by buying the Symbian mobile operating system, mapping software company NAVTEQ and Plazes, a location-based social network, all this year. The company is also launching its ‘Comes with Music’ unlimited download service designed to steal iTunes customers away from Apple.
In the midst of all of these acquisitions, Nokia’s market share has been slipping due to a price war that the company says is going on at the low end of the handset market. In the first quarter, Nokia commanded a hefty 40% of the global handset market.
In order for the company to reassert its dominance, Nokia will need to bundle these services together to create interesting new services for customers. The global enterprise market is largely untapped, and now RIM, Microsoft and Nokia are all in the hunt.
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Stumble It!
September 11th, 2008
Please, let’s not buy into the new way of spelling “lose” as “loose”. For such a smart, well written post, it is alarming to see this – thousands will now follow your authoritative lead.
Civilization may fall if this corruption spreads any further. Lose the “loose”, please.
September 11th, 2008
Your system is faulty – it applied my comment to the wrong post. It was written for Text message costs questioned by Senator, AT&T charging $1,300 per MB.