Symbian, a maker of operating systems for cell phones, has licensed software from rival Microsoft, in a sign of growing cooperation between the two companies.
Symbian, based in London, said it will develop software that lets Symbian phones work with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 e-mail, calendar, contacts and other personal-information tools, then make it available to Symbian licensees. Licensing terms were not disclosed. Both companies say the deal is meant to help sell more Symbian-based phones to corporate clientele. These handsets are known as smart phones because they have advanced capabilities such as word processing. Symbian is closely aligned with the smart-phone plans of Fujitsu and Nokia. Nokia is a part owner of Symbian.