14 DAY TRIAL // Users can expect Microsoft’s current and next generation of productivity offerings to play nice with Nokia devices both now and in the future. Furthermore, they can also count on the exclusivity of the partnership between Microsoft and Nokia, at least for the foreseeable future. Nokia smartphones are currently the only devices save for Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Phone 7 capable of enabling their owners to get first-class citizen treatment from the Redmond company.
Mail for Exchange, Communicator Mobile, SharePoint Access and the Office Mobile productivity suite are developed to feel right just as at home on Nokia smartphones as they do on Windows Phone handsets.
This is the result of an alliance inked between the two companies back in 2009, focused on bringing Microsoft’s productivity solutions for the mobile professional, including Microsoft Office Mobile and Microsoft business communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokia’s Symbian devices.
The partnership spans across design, development and marketing the software, with the duo agreeing to collaborate on all aspects.
If you look at the mobile market today, this partnership is certainly one of a kind, and the exclusivity alone is designed to give Nokia an advantage over vendors of rival platforms including Apple and Google.
Exchange, and when I say Exchange I actually mean ActiveSync, is in no way limited to Nokia or Windows Phone handsets, but these devices come with a complete set of productivity offerings which allows business users to get their email, contacts, calendar from an Exchange Server, to connect to SharePoint, to easily communicate with friends and colleagues using Communicator, and even to access Office documents on their mobile devices.
Please bear in mind that Microsoft and Nokia are still working on bringing the mobile equivalent of Office 2010 (formerly codenamed Office 14) to Nokia Symbian handsets, but it’s coming.
At TechEd 2010 Europe earlier this month I had a chance to talk to Tarja Kantola, senior GTM Manager Eseries, responsible for the collaboration with the Redmond software giant.
“We’ve formed this alliance with Microsoft last year in August, planned as a long term relationship, and they’re developing for Symbian. That’s new since they haven’t done that. To date, we have three different solutions in the market already,” she said.
“There’s Mail for Exchange so you can have the Outlook experience on Symbian devices. We’ve had this for a long time, but we are constantly enhancing and bringing new functionality, for example we’re making sure that it’s supported with the latest version of Exchange Server, Exchange 2010.
“Then we have the Communicator Mobile. This is the first application developed 100% by Microsoft for Nokia, and it’s the business IM and presence application. It’s basically a similar experience with the PC Communicator client, but mobile.
It’s important to note that Communicator Mobile on Nokia devices will work seamlessly with Office Communication Server, but also with the next iteration OCS, which has been launched on November 17th, rebranded as Lync 2010 and Lync Server 2010.
“And then the third solution that doesn’t require any additional software for Nokia devices is SharePoint Access. Microsoft released SharePoint Server 2010 and that server has a new feature, mobile optimized web layouts. It’s capable of detecting the browser that’s connecting to the server, and realizes that it’s mobile, adapting and optimizing the layout accordingly,” Kantola explained.
Office Mobile 14 and future versions of the productivity suite
The next generation of Office Mobile for Symbian, based on Office 2010 / Office 14 is currently cooking, but I could not get an estimate as to when it will be ready for Nokia users.
While I heard some rumors that Microsoft might be exploring bringing Office to additional platforms, I could not get a confirmation of this from the software giant.
One Microsoft employee I talked to in Berlin noted that the Nokia and Microsoft alliance will remain exclusive for the coming years, so I wouldn’t expect to use Office Mobile with iOS, Android, etc. anytime soon, but only with Symbian OS and Windows Phone.
I also tried quite hard to get Kantola to share any details about the mobile flavor of Office 15 for Nokia, but was unsuccessful. However, users should rest assured that Office Mobile will be available for Nokia devices in the future, beyond the Office 14 Mobile for Symbian.
“This is the intention of the alliance agreement,” she confirmed. “We’re not quite there yet, but the idea is, when Microsoft is releasing a new wave 14, 15, at the same time you will have the capabilities on Nokia devices.”
But after all, I’m willing to bet that the Nokia and Microsoft partnership will only grow stronger and stronger in the future.
This especially now that Stephen Elop, the former Business Division President for Microsoft, is the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nokia. Some of you undoubtedly already know that Elop was the architect of the Nokia and Microsoft alliance.