Infinite Path

Microsoft and Nokia’s plan to form a partnership in an attempt to merge business software and smartphones has been greeted with unexpectedly diverse reactions in the technology world. The partnership has been touted as a response to the growing dominance in the business sector of the Apple iPhone on the one hand, and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry models on the other.

The two companies plan to start offering Nokia phones with the capability to run Office next year, which means that users will be able to access up-to-date versions of applications including Word and Excel on a variety of Nokia models.

One thing’s for sure: the market for this kind of technology is certainly worth paying attention to in the long-term. Business users who not only desire the ability to be able to access and edit important documents whilst on the move but depend upon this service on a daily basis have placed a new demand on companies involved in the smartphone industry.

However, the latest announcement from Microsoft and Nokia has been treated sceptically by some. After all, brand power and reputation is one of the most important elements in any sector of the technology industry. Microsoft’s name in the mobile phone market has nowhere near as much pulling potential as it does in other markets.

Others believe that the move breaks the basic business philosophy of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. The market is already saturated with devices which perform similar functions to those offered by Microsoft and Nokia and the need to create complicated documents and presentations whilst away from a computer seems to be subordinated below the need to open and perform basic actions on pre-existing documents.

On the other side of the debate are those who believe that seamless integration with Microsoft backend servers and applications will make the new models from Nokia an attractive proposition. Furthermore, according to these proponents of the partnership, increasing the level of competition even to the smallest extent can only be a positive move forward for users.

Whether the Microsoft/Nokia partnership will prove to be a real success remains to be seen but, regardless of your opinion or stance on the matter, the companies have won the first battle: to get people talking.