Nokia To Tackle Corporate Email

Reuters covers the Nokia Business Center announcement, which is a new corporate e-mail system for sending and receiving mail from mobile handsets. Nordea analyst Karri Rinta said, "This is one way to make a Nokia device appeal to business users and potentially make them forego buying a Blackberry and get a Nokia instead and then over time building up that market."

Nokia will offer two versions of its system. The standard version gives companies basic read/write access to e-mail, while the professional version integrates directly into a company's corporate network directory, giving user direct access to email and the ability to handle hefty e-mail attachments. Nokia is collaborating with Good Technology on the solution.

Hannu Rauhala, analyst at Opstock Securities said, "Nokia's focus is much broader than that of RIM ... it has intelligent networks which understand handsets, delivering services the user wants. Smartphones are not smartphones without the services from the network side."

From the Nokia press release at RedNova News, Stephen Drake at IDC said, "Worldwide enterprise wireless email adoption has only begun to scratch the surface, just as a fraction of the hundreds of millions of corporate email seats that have mobile access in the world is approaching two billion wireless subscribers. Successful providers delivering corporate mobile email solutions must address the need for mass market adoption."

Added Kevin Burden at IDC, "Nokia is differentiating its enterprise Wireless email solution with a Network Operations Center-independent approach that will gain attention from operators and enterprises seeking cost effective alternatives in an increasingly crowded space."