Today Microsoft announced they’ll work with Nokia to bring key communication and collaboration tools to the E series devices and later other Nokia Symbian handsets. This includes Office mobile, (Word, Powerpoint, Excel and OneNote), OCS IM and presence, mobile access to Sharepoint portals and SystemCentre device management. My colleagues will be writing a more detailed analysis and I don’t want to detract from that so I’ll just throw in a couple of quick reactions.
First this is great news for enterprises. Clients with Nokia devices and Microsoft back ends will have more choice. The is also good for the Microsoft divisions responsible for Office, Exchange, Sharepoint, OCS and SystemCentre. They will have more potential users and be able to sell more software. It’s also good news for those enterprises who were getting worried about the future of Windows Mobile, now they have an alternative. Look out for a note from my colleague Monica Basso which will analyse the enterprise implications in detail.
This is good news too for Nokia, it will make E series devices more attractive to those enterprises who use Microsoft technology. E series has done well, but it has the potential to do better, this may help it compete with RIM for example.
This is also good for Microsoft on a deeper level, because there’s another game being played here. Over the next couple of years Microsoft will face greater competition in mobile email, unified communications and collaboration from a wide range of organisations such as Cisco, Google and RIM. Being available on Symbian – the dominant smartphone platform – will help Microsoft fight these competitors.
Who won’t be happy? This is bad news for HTC who’ve been big supporters of Windows Mobile. I bet the Windows Mobile team aren’t ecstatic either. Despite loud protestations that Microsoft is deeply committed to WinMo they wouldn’t have needed this alliance with Nokia if WinMo were the leading smartphone operating system. But it’s only in 4th place, which isn’t good enough given all those years of investment. I see this as a tacit admission from Microsoft that WinMo hasn’t made the grade. I’ve noted before in my blog that I am becoming more concerned about its future and I worry that WM7 could even be the last throw of the dice. Imagine you’re Steve Balmer, and in two years time WinMo was still 4th in smartphone market share. How much longer would you keep throwing money at it? My colleague Carolina Milanesi will be writing a note analysing the implications for the smartphone market, so look out for that if you want more information.
18 responses so far ↓
1 wyliegraham // Aug 12, 2009 at 4:24 pm
i think this is just another case of microsoft expanding the reach of office, rather than it portending the death of winmo. with the new zune hd look/feel/functionality and the idea of spreading their gaming platform from xbox to pc to zune to phone, winmo is hardly in trouble.
2 stuckwithWM // Aug 12, 2009 at 4:49 pm
you obviously dont use WM6 , or youd know what a POS it is
3 hm // Aug 12, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Is it not to farfetched to say that winmo is dead.. They are just adapting to android/iphone.
4 Microsoft and Nokia get friendly | iBlogTech // Aug 12, 2009 at 6:12 pm
[...] Read more here: Microsoft and Nokia get friendly [...]
5 mrfator // Aug 12, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Windows and SymbianOS both suffer from the same design philosophies. Time to market and feature list lengths are the focus rather than the overall user experience. Apple and Google really get this and as long as MS doesn’t learn from it they will continue to loose market share. Statigic alliances and aquisitions will only delay this effect not solve it.
6 mr norp // Aug 12, 2009 at 10:48 pm
What about caving into open source?
Isn’t Symbian going open source?
Can I spell Android?
Isn’t the iphone the google of the mobile set?
7 mr norp // Aug 12, 2009 at 11:38 pm
yes, Symbian is open source
http://secblog.symbian.org/2009/07/08/were-off-and-running/
8 mr norp // Aug 13, 2009 at 12:08 am
The mobile os market will be Blackberry, iphone, Symbian (open source) and Android (free). Microsoft thinks people will pay for it’s mobile office applications. Rim probably wasn’t interested or wanted too much, both iphone and Android are not possible, it only left Symbian.
Microsoft is starting to understand that it’s making stuff nobody wants.
9 Windows Mobile 7或是微软最后的移动操作 « 每日IT新闻，最新IT资讯，聚合多站点消息，保证你与世界同步 // Aug 13, 2009 at 6:28 am
[...] 微软和诺基亚周三宣布了合作事宜，微软将向诺基亚的Symbian平台发布名为Microsoft Office Mobile的办公软件，目的显然是应对Google在线应用程序的挑战。 两家公司表示微软的其它通讯、协作和设备管理软件也将会发布到Symbian设备上。首款使用微软移动软件的手机型号是诺基亚的E系列，其它型号将会逐步跟上。微软和诺基亚交易让曾经的竞争对手携手合作，对诺基亚显然是利好，但这可能也意味着Windows Mobile时代的终结。Gartner分析师Nick Jones认为，Windows Mobile 7可能是微软Windows Mobile系统的最后一次更新。这将会到中国的手机行业造成极大的影响，众所周知山寨智能手机广泛使用Windows Mobile系统。 [...]
10 mojo // Aug 13, 2009 at 8:00 am
Microsoft will dumb win mobile, it is a dog of an os. Anyone that has ever owned a winmo will tell you why.
Why does ms have to stick their nose into every business ? For god sake, os, software, xbox, mobiles, zune, search, online music, movies, etc etc , the list is never ending. Come on, lets be honest, nothing new comes out of redmond, it is ripped off, purchased or won in court. Prob best if ms stayed away from mobile os, for the good of all. I like to be able to choose from android, webos, iphone, symbian. Why can’t i have the same choice in desktop (m$???!!)
I hate the american redneck bully system, how else is m$ at the top ? Innovation ?
Prediction: M$ buys blackberry, then rebranded as MS windows Blackberry
11 links for 2009-08-13 « Becky McMichael’s PR Balancing Act // Aug 13, 2009 at 3:03 pm
[...] Microsoft and Nokia get friendly (tags: nokia microsoft office) [...]
12 Article 10 // Aug 14, 2009 at 7:13 am
This is a great development!
Let’s face it; the business world revolves around the Microsoft Office suite. So having Office software available on smart phones will be a godsend to busy individuals who are always on the move, no longer restricting them to the confines of the office. It will be particularly useful on road to important meetings as it will allow PowerPoint users to flick through slides and view notes to practice their presentations, or even edit and tweak their PowerPoint files on their morning commute or business trip.
13 Microsoft-Nokia Alliance | Mobile Strategy // Aug 14, 2009 at 10:22 am
[...] Microsoft and Nokia get friendly by Nick Jones of Gartner [...]
14 movitec // Aug 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm
MS seems to have forgotten the value of the developer ecosystem, and they need to infuse some new blood into their efforts. The lack of documentation and tools in WinMo is appalling and to expect the same set of people and processes to bring a major positive change maybe expecting too much. They need a radical shift in their mindset, and open up their internal documentation (if it exists) and perhaps even the source code if it comes to that. At the very least make available their dev tools and utilities that are made available to OEMs only, and not try to contain what developers can and can’t do UNLIKE what Apple has done! None of this requires following Android or iPhone. They first and foremost need to decide whether they are serious about supporting the developer community and creating a thriving ecosystem or not. And that doesn’t mean just offering an app store, that is not a solution to the OS and developer problems. An app store is a marketing channel, which surely can have immense implications and they should get that part right. But it’s only meaningful if they have a thriving and committed developer ecosystem.
15 Gartner declares Android a second place winner in 2012. Why? — RoughlyDrafted Magazine // Oct 8, 2009 at 7:38 am
[...] beleaguered mobile platform’s web browser. That would certainly explain why a Gartner analyst wrote a month ago that he was “concerned about its future and I worry that WM7 [in 2010] could even be [...]
16 Microsoft and Nokia get friendly // Dec 27, 2009 at 10:24 am
[...] here to see the original: Microsoft and Nokia get friendly Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: and-collaboration, android-, are-not, blackberry, [...]
17 Windows Mobile 7 damage report: Mixed assessments on the CES no-show | CHARGED's Digital Lifestyle at Work or Play // Jan 8, 2010 at 3:23 am
[...] have needed this alliance with Nokia if WinMo were the leading smartphone operating system,” wrote Gartner analyst Nick Jones in his blog. “But it’s only in fourth place, which isn’t good enough given all [...]
18 MarketME // Jan 8, 2010 at 5:01 am
[...] have needed this alliance with Nokia if WinMo were the leading smartphone operating system,” wrote Gartner analyst Nick Jones in his blog. “But it’s only in fourth place, which isn’t good enough given all [...]
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