Office 2010 Web Apps coming to Nokia smartphones

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 12 Aug 2009 at 07:25

Updated at 4:40pm Microsoft and Nokia have announced a strategic alliance which will see Office 2010 Web Apps appear on Nokia smartphones.

The two mobile rivals have agreed to work together on a series of mobile initiatives which they claim will "deliver a groundbreaking, enterprise-grade solution for mobile productivity".

Symbian smartphone owners will be able to view, edit and share documents created in mobile-optimised versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Today's announcement may give businesses a reason to stick with the Symbian platform, while helping Microsoft to fend off the challenge of Google's online apps

The two also plan to offer Nokia owners access to their corporate intranet, via SharePoint Server, as well as deliver services such as instant messaging and presence.

Both Windows Mobile and Nokia's Symbian have been left in the shadows by the emergence of the iPhone, Google's Android and Palm's webOS. Today's announcement may give businesses a reason to stick with the Symbian platform, while helping Microsoft to fend off the challenge of Google's online apps.

"With more than 200 million smartphone customers globally, Nokia is the world's largest smartphone manufacturer and a natural partner for us," claims Microsoft business division president, Stephen Elop.

"Today’s announcement will enable us to expand Microsoft Office Mobile to Nokia smartphone owners worldwide and allow them to collaborate on Office documents from anywhere, as part of our strategy to provide the best productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser."

Microsoft has already demonstrated its Office 2010 Web Apps running on Windows Mobile handsets. It's not clear whether Microsoft will hold back any features for its own software.

Although Microsoft has released a beta version of Office 2010 on the desktop, the Web Apps have yet to be unleashed on beta testers.

The company has promised that consumers will be given free access to the Web Apps, even if they haven't purchased the desktop software.

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