John Acher
HELSINKI: Microsoft Corp. said on Monday that it would welcome closer ties
with mobile phone maker Nokia, looking to pair its strength in software with the
Finnish group's expertise in wireless technology. "From a Microsoft
perspective... we would love to have an even deeper partnership with
Nokia," chief executive Steve Ballmer said in an interview with Finnish
national broadcaster YLE news.
"We would like in the future to have even closer cooperation around
software both for devices as well as the way PCs work with wireless
infrastructure," he said on a brief visit to Helsinki to promote
Microsoft's new Office XP software. While Nokia welcomed Ballmer's gesture, it
said it would stick by plans to use rival Symbian's operating system, created by
Britain's Psion, to power its smartphones, but was willing to work together for
more technological compatibility.
Ballmer's comments came at a time when Microsoft is trying to grab a piece of
the growing wireless software market with its Pocket PC operating system, as
mobile phones increasingly converge with handheld personal computers. Nokia's
spokesman Lauri Kivinen said he was not aware of any meetings between Nokia
officials and Ballmer during his visit, but he said the groups had talked in the
past.
"We have had a continuous round of meetings and discussions with
Microsoft over the years, so the connection certainly is there," Kivinen
told Reuters. In recent years, talk of a link-up between the two companies has
occasionally surfaced but proved groundless.
Open, compatible technology wanted
Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, said it would welcome closer
cooperation to ensure wireless devices and software worked seamlessly together.
"Closer collaboration is welcomed if common terms can be found and I see
good possibilities to work together when it comes to common, open
standards," Kivnen said.
He said this was already happening, such as with Nokia's pocket-size
colour-screen 9210 Communicator, which is due to hit the shelves this month and
runs on the Symbian operating system but also works with Microsoft Windows-based
programs.
But Kivinen stressed that Nokia had chosen Symbian as its operating system
for its mobile devices. Symbian's EPOC is a competitor to Microsoft's Stinger
system due for release late this year. "When it comes to the operating
system we have made the choice to use the Symbian system for our
smartphones," he said.
Symbian is to supply smartphone software to the world's five largest handset
makers - Nokia, US Motorola, Germany's Siemens, Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's
Matsushita - which together account for about 65 per cent of global cellphone
sales.
Kivinen declined to say if Nokia would in the future adopt Microsoft's mobile
Internet brower already accepted by Ericsson and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.
"In the future several browsers will be used in wireless products," he
said.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.