Nokia and Microsoft have intensified their battle to dominate the latest generation of mobile phones. On Monday the Finnish handset maker announced an attack on Microsoft"s enterprise powerbase, and the software giant unveiled its most advanced "smartphone" to date. The annual summit of the mobile world, 3GSM in Cannes, was also abuzz with reports that Nokia"s partners in its Symbian joint venture to develop an operating system to rival Microsoft"s would exercise their rights to limit its stake. Jorma Ollila, Nokia chairman and chief executive, told a news conference it was strengthening its relationship with long-time Microsoft rival IBM in the enterprise space.
IBM"s mobile software will be combined with a new Nokia product, the 9500 Communicator, to offer instant messaging and increased functionality. "The new mobile enterprise market is still in its early stages; we are beginning to put in place many of the elements needed," Mr Ollila said. Smartphones, which include multimedia phones with built-in cameras and handsets that have sophisticated personal information management (PIM) tools, accounted for only around 1 per cent of global mobile phone sales last year. But the category is growing rapidly and has become the new focus of the industry.