Nokia announces Microsoft Apps suite for Symbian Belle handsets

Native Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps coming in 2012

Nokia is to launch a number of enterprise applications on the Symbian Belle platform later this year to offer productivity boosts for business customers.

The Microsoft Apps suite will be made available for free and offers OneNote, Lync 2010 Mobile, PowerPoint Broadcast and Microsoft Document Connection.

OneNote allows workers to take notes on the move, track to-do lists and access documents stored on Windows SkyDrive, explained Pat Fox, senior director of product planning at Microsoft.

Microsoft Lync 2010 Mobile enables collaboration with colleagues via instant messaging and provides one-click access to meetings, while PowerPoint Broadcast allows participation in presentations by listening to a conference call on a mobile and viewing slides on the display.

Finally, Document Connection provides access to documents stored on SharePoint, and Fox said that there will also be enhancements to Active Exchange.

Ilari Nurmi, vice president of product marketing of smart devices at Nokia, told V3 that the applications will be available in the fourth quarter of 2011 on a raft of devices.

"The Symbian Belle update will be made available first on a broad range of Nokia devices, including the N8, C7 and E7. This will enable people who bought a device a year ago to get significant enhancements," he said.

"Microsoft Apps will be delivered as a software update over the air to existing devices after Symbian Belle is released, and we are working on other things that will be available in the first half of 2012."

Nokia will release native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications for the Symbian platform at the beginning of 2012.

Symbian Belle users will also receive mobile device management support via the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 update.