Under an agreement, Nokia and Microsoft will begin collaborating to bring Microsoft Office Mobile and communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokia’s Symbian phones. From a U.S. perspective, the deal is meaningless—you’ll be hard pressed to find Nokia phones—especially smartphones.
Internationally, however, Microsoft’s partnership with Nokia could be a big deal. If Microsoft wants global Mobile Office adoption the company has to run on more than just Windows Mobile. Gartner’s just released smartphone market share standings tell the tale:
Nokia by far is the smartphone leader worldwide. Research in Motion is a distant second. If Microsoft wants to get its mobile productivity apps set up for global acceptance it has to go through Nokia. A Windows Mobile-Office bundle just won’t work abroad.
Indeed, Windows Mobile represented just 9 percent of the worldwide smartphone operating system market in the second quarter. Symbian had 51 percent, down from 57 percent a year ago, according to Gartner.
The software partnership kicks off with Nokia’s enterprise focused Eseries.
