I have just read on the BBC Technology RSS that Nokia has formed an alliance with Microsoft and is planning to ship Nokia mobile devices with mobile-flavoured MS apps such as Word in a bid to compete with RIM Blackberry...

Does this strike anybody as a strange move for Microsoft?

MS are already having problems increasing the popularity of Windows Mobile (WM) phones, and the introduction of the iPhone and Andriod platforms has not exactly helped their case... I have also read recently that the vast majority (80%) of WM6.1 phones are manufactured by HTC and there are rumours suggesting that HTC may increasingly move away from WM in favour of BREW (BMP) and Android...

Nokia owned Symbian is currently the worlds leading mobile platform, and surely hanging them the exclusive keys to the MS mobile apps only serves to strengthen the position of a direct competitor Nokia/Symbian in the mobile market?

Could it be that the MS execs are so keen to prevent the likes of RIM/Google from maintaining/gaining share in the enterprise mobile platform market that they will happily take actions that hasten the demise of their own mobile platform... Some analysists are already ringing the death-bells for Windows Mobile...

Daniel

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Daniel Bryant (Director) | Tai-Dev Ltd www.tai-dev.co.uk - IT Consultancy Services Specialising in JEE, Web 2.0 and RDBMS