Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft and Nokia on Wednesday announced an alliance that will bring Microsoft mobile software to Nokia devices next year.

Both companies, however, stressed that they remain committed to their respective operating systems – Windows Mobile and Symbian.

“We will develop Microsoft Office Mobile and related communication and collaboration software and services for Nokia smartphones,” Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft Business Division, said during a call with reporters and analysts. “We will market these solutions to our partners and over the longer term, we will jointly design a range of new user experiences for future Nokia devices.”

Nokia will first offer these services via its Eseries business phones, but will eventually expand to “many other Nokia smartphones,” said Kai Öistämö, executive vice president for Nokia Devices, though he could not provide details on specific phones.

As a first step, Nokia has renewed its license with Microsoft Exchange Active Sync.

Next year, Nokia will start shipping smartphones loaded with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile. Other Office applications and related software and services will be added in the future, including the ability to view, edit, create, and share Office documents on more devices, enterprise instant messaging and optimized conference calling, mobile access to intranet and extranet portals via SharePoint, and enterprise device management via Microsoft System Center.

“What we have shared today is by no means the full extent of the alliance,” said Öistämö. “This is much more than just putting Microsoft software on Nokia smartphones.”

So what else should we expect?

We didn’t expect too many fireworks from Microsoft and Nokia’s joint teleconference this morning, and, well, we didn’t get any. As expected, Office Mobile is coming to Symbian, along with Office Communicator Mobile, SharePoint, and Microsoft System Center, and the two companies also said they’ll be working on “future user experiences” for Nokia customers. Don’t get too worked up about that, though — Nokia said it was “deeply committed to Symbian,” and that “there are no such plans” to work on a Windows Mobile device. So much for that. We did ask whether this partnership would affect Nokia’s rumored Maemo plans, and we were told that development is Symbian-focused for now, but that there might be “other business opportunities” in the future, so at least that door remains open a hair — but for the most part this is all about Microsoft and Nokia trying to stake out a stronger enterprise position, not anything else. Video after the break, if you’re having a hard time taking that nap.

Continue reading Microsoft and Nokia announce Office coming to Symbian

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Microsoft and Nokia announce Office coming to Symbian originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not sure what to make of this, but we were just invited to a joint Microsoft / Nokia teleconference during which the two companies will announce an “alliance.” Yeah, there are some pretty wild possibilities there — Nokia going WinMo? Redmond going Symbian? The creation of MaeWinMo? — but considering the featured speakers are Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s business division, and Kai Öistämö, Nokia’s EVP for devices, we’re guessing the real announcement will be something more pedestrian, like native Exchange support on Symbian or possibly that upcoming Atom netbook running Windows 7. Otherwise, hell — Nokia would be supporting three different mobile OSs, and that seems just a little too crazy, even for Espoo. We’ll see — it all goes down tomorrow at 11AM Eastern.

Update: This is probably unrelated, but Microsoft’s Mac BU just called its own presser for Thursday, so if you’re looking to spend the night weaving wild nonsensical conspiracy theories, we’d say all the pieces are in place.

Update 2: Told you it was nothing too out there — the Wall Street Journal says Microsoft will announce it’s working on a version of Office for Nokia phones. Anyone surprised? Didn’t think so.

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops

Nokia and Microsoft to announce an “alliance” tomorrow — what? Update: Office on Nokia phones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As far as we’re concerned, Nokia’s 5530 XpressMusic far and away out-classes its more expensive older brother the 5800, even if it is lacking in the 3G department. British phone retailer mobiles.co.uk thought it best to tease us with an unboxing video of their own, along with some quick impressions of the touchscreen device. It’s certainly a looker, and a sleek device they’re pretty confident will do well. Some of the S60 5th edition additions are very welcomed, such as the new scrolling contacts bar, but for better and for worse (mostly worse), it’s still S60. See it for yourself after the break, and if you wish really hard, there’s a good chance this still won’t get 3G, but at least you can say you tried.

[Via Cell Addict Blog]

Continue reading Nokia 5530 XpressMusic out of box, handled on video, preferred over 5800

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic out of box, handled on video, preferred over 5800 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every week, random, seemingly anonymous Nokia handsets quietly pick up FCC approval. Most will never see the light of day on an American carrier, and the ones that do have usually already been announced so that by the time we figure out what the FCC filing refers to, it’s uninteresting. Today, though, we noticed a Nokia RX-51 get certification, and we were immediately intrigued; standard Nokia phones have an “RM” designation, so “RX” has us thinking that this is no ordinary phone. Taking a peek at the SAR documentation reveals that it rolls deep with AWS 3G, just the kind that T-Mobile USA needs to do its thing. The final piece in this amazing puzzle has to be the ID placement doc, which shows the outline of a device far wider than your standard dumbphone. Where are we going with this? You might recall MobileCrunch‘s information from a while back suggesting that T-Mobile USA would be getting a Maemo 5-powered superphone codenamed “Rover” — and, well, we’re pretty sure this is it. Stay tuned — things are about to get interesting.

Nokia device passes FCC for T-Mobile USA, looks an awful lot like a new Internet Tablet to us originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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