Microsoft and Nokia join forces in the face to RIM smartphones

Microsoft and Nokia have announced an alliance Wednesday to equip mobile multimedia manufacturer Finnish software companies in the U.S. publisher to counter the dominance of Research In Motion (RIM) on this segment.
The agreement includes equipping from next year some combination of Nokia's Office suite, which includes, inter alia, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and e-mail software. According to research firm Gartner, Nokia has about 45% market share in smartphones (mobile multimedia) and has some 200 million users worldwide.
Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, has launched the market for mobile email and holds a strong position in business, particularly in North America, which enabled him to resist such attacks in recent years, Nokia.
This will give food for thought for our rivals such as RIM, said by telephone Robert Andersson Vice President of Nokia. "I do not think RIM has experienced a competition like that which we prepare."
The alliance also aims to counter the recent initiative of Google offering free software online destination for corporate customers from Microsoft. It is also a response to the growing popularity of Apple's iPhone.
"It is obvious that Nokia and Microsoft are facing challenges in terms of competition, especially from Google," said John Jackson, an analyst with research firm CCS Insight. "It makes sense for these two groups to work together to see if they can gather their forces to respond to that pressure."
According to Nokia and Microsoft, the agreement will not affect the future development of their operating systems for mobile respectively, ie for the first Symbian and Windows Mobile for the second. According to officials from the Finnish manufacturer, Nokia does not equip its combination of Windows Mobile.