Microsoft and Nokia Forge Alliance

Nokia and Microsoft are partnering up to increase revenue from web services. The device uniting them is from Nokia, as the mobile manufacturer plans to pre-install Microsoft Internet applications on its new phones early next year.

The Microsoft/Nokia relationship is not just for North Americans, but will be available in eleven countries, including Britain, France, Spain, and Germany. In the past, Nokia phones were equipped with a few Microsoft products such as Windows Media DRM10, which enforces copyright protection for audio files. Now, a whole range of Microsoft programs will dial their way into Nokia phones. Specifically, Windows Live Hotmail, Messenger, Live Contacts and Live Spaces.

However, Nokia wants to make another deal. The terms of this agreement, if approved, will mean that information from Nokia phones can be synchronized with Internet data. For example, if Nokia's proposal goes through, a phone user can integrate Nokia contacts with those on Windows Live.

Another benefit: uploading pictures taken from a Nokia phone will be easier. As confirmed by a Nokia spokesperson, "These aren't just applications that will sit in the background of your phone. They will integrate and intertwine fully with your phone. This is about converging the fixed and mobile Internet so that users just think of there being one Internet, which they access from a single platform." (Source: technology.timesonline.co.uk)

It looks as if Nokia has really found a way to accommodate its customers. In fact, some may say that it has even found a way to accommodate itself. The launch of this new partnership has been described as a blatant insult to those network operators who have tried, and failed, at creating their own email applications. In addition, by forming a direct collaboration with a company as big as Microsoft, the network operator is reduced to trying to collect on the data traffic generated. (Source: channelregister.co.uk)

Regardless of Nokia's motives, the company, as opposed to other network operators, now has a chance to change the world of technology. If all is successful, users' online lives will shift from the computer to the cell phone.