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Nokia Enterprise Round Up: E71 AT&T Bound, Lotus Notes Now On Board S60 Phones

Some major developments have been occurring in Nokia land lately that are worth discussion. First up, a version of the Nokia E71 smartphone has been spotted with AT&T branding on it. Second, Nokia announced today that it is adding support for Lotus Notes to its S60 smartphones.

I think it is safe to say that Nokia is finally getting serious about the enterprise. In September, Nokia announced that it was ditching is home-grown, enterprise-grade mobile email service and would instead license ActiveSync from Microsoft. The result? Instead of having to use third-party softwar and hardware, S60 devices can natively sync with Microsoft Exchange servers to retrieve email, calendar and contact information.

At the same time, Nokia has released three new smartphones that are highly capable business devices: the E66, the E63 and the E71. I reviewed the E71 several months ago and can quite honestly say it is one of the best smartphones I have ever used. According to reports, a new version of the E71 has been seen with AT&T's badge visible. This means it is highly likely AT&T will offer the E71 in its lineup in the near future.

Right now, the only way to get an E71 is to buy it unlocked at full retail price (around $450). Reports suggest that the subsidized price of the E71 will be in the $150 to $200 ballpark, right where it needs to be to compete with other smartphones in the market.

Then there's today's news to consider. In addition to licensing ActiveSync from Microsoft, Nokia has tapped the other large enterprise email provider: IBM. Starting in December, a wide range fo S60 3rd Edition smartphones from Nokia will be able to access IBM Lotus Notes-based email, calendar, contacts and more.

The quote provided in Nokia's press release isn't just fluff. Soren Petersen, senior vice president, said, "This is another strong affirmation of our business mobility vision, which is to establish partnerships with the world's leading enterprise vendors. This collaboration means nearly 90 percent of business email can be mobilized with Nokia devices, without needing to purchase additional servers, middleware or licenses."

Nokia's actions over the last few months clearly show that the company has changed it strategy for pursing enterprise users. (The deal probably doesn't hurt IBM, either.) I am glad to see that Nokia is stepping up, as pressure from its competitors will only continue to increase.

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