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Johannesburg - Mobile technology company Nokia and software giant Microsoft have announced a global alliance that will see the joint development of mobile technologies and the development of Microsoft Office for Nokia mobile handsets.
This is a first for the two companies respectively, both leaders in their markets.
Speaking on an international conference call, Stephen Elop, business division president for Microsoft, said: "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.
"With more than 200 million smartphone customers globally, Nokia is the world's largest smartphone manufacturer and a natural partner for us," he said.
"If you are going to provide a seamless and integrated productivity experience on a mobile device, Microsoft is an ideal partner," said Nokia's executive vice-president for devices, Kai Oistamo.
"Together with Microsoft, we will develop new and innovative user experiences for employees of small and large businesses alike, ensuring Nokia's smartphones are an integral part of the office and home-office environment, and addressing the significant opportunity in mobile enterprise productivity."
Mobile and telecommunications analyst for research and consulting firm IDC, Stephen Drake said that both Microsoft and Nokia stand to derive major benefit from their arrangement.
"By bringing Microsoft's productivity solutions to Nokia's large customer base, the two companies should be better able to serve the needs of the growing mobile worker population, which IDC estimates to reach 1 billion worldwide in 2011," he said.
Earlier in 2009 Nokia announced a similar joint-development agreement with processor manufacturer Intel.
Microsoft was not clear on what the agreement would spell for the future of its own mobile platform Windows Mobile.
- Fin24.com