Microsoft today launched its first application for Nokia smartphones, as the former rivals bury the hatchet in a bid to defend their positions in an increasingly competitive market.
Communicator Mobile for Nokia is the first result of an alliance between the two companies unveiled in August, which has seen the pair set aside their differences to collaborate on developing new solutions for enterprise customers.
The pair hope to shore-up their presence in the mobile operating system market.
Nokia's Symbian OS and Microsoft's Windows Mobile have bled market share in the last three years, and are now being trounced by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android OSes.
The launch of the application could be well-timed for Nokia’s CEO Olli Pekka-Kallasvuo, who is this week expected to come under fire from shareholders over the firm’s poor performance.
Much of the criticism centers on the firm’s inability to launch an iPhone rival, - a situation made worse by its decision to delay the launch of new smartphone models until later this year.
Although the vendor has maintained its global number one status in terms of market share – figures from IDC put the firm’s share at 40% in 1Q10 – it is struggling to compete in the high-end device market.
Nokia hopes the new Microsoft suite will help address some of those criticisms, by increasing the productivity potential of its E-series smartphones.
The application extends the functionality of a desktop PC version into mobile, automatically finding colleagues, then selecting the best method of contacting them.
It is available for download onto Nokia’s E52 and E72 models initially, but will be embedded in future E-series smartphones.