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Nokia claims the new software will mean more than 80 million users of its smartphones can access IBM's Lotus email. In September Nokia signed a similar deal with Microsoft, the leading corporate email provider.

"With this partnership we are able to mobilise close to 90% of corporate emails without any extra investments from corporations," says Ilari Nurmi, vice president at Nokia. "A lot of companies have servers in place and a lot of Nokia devices on the premises. It's an important factor in cost-conscious times."

Nokia dropped development of its own corporate email product this year, choosing to look for partners instead while focusing on developing phones for business users to better challenge RIM, the leading mobile email vendor.

"Since revising its business strategy, Nokia has sharpened

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its focus and is turning up the heat on RIM and Microsoft, particularly in the SMB segment," said Geoff Blaber, analyst with research firm CCS Insight.

"Adding support for Lotus Notes is a huge step forwards. The move gives Nokia the capability to target a much broader market and a segment where RIM has dominated to date."

The announcement comes against a backdrop of falling demand for cellphones worldwide as the global economy falters, with Nokia warning last week that it expects industry volumes in 2009 to contract.

Some analysts have tapped smartphones as the market segment with the best hope for growth in 2009.

In the third quarter Nokia sold 1.1 million of its new sleek, E71 phones, outselling RIM's Blackberry Bold by five-to-one, according to Nokia.

Last week Nokia unveiled a somewhat stripped-down version of E71, the Nokia E63. Nokia's Nurmi says the E63 could well outsell E71. "From an affordability standpoint there is clearly bigger potential for this product," he claims.