Nokia battles it out with RIM

MOBILE PHONE GIANT NOKIA is stepping into the ring with Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) in the mobile email sector.

Nokia reckons it has a chance in the crowded market as the economic slowdown looks to shift focus towards retail consumers, as previously RIM’s dominant position in the corporate sector has stood it in good stead.

Nokia now has the chance to wade in a steal the consumer market as that is clearly where it has its dominance.

RIM has put a bid in for the consumer market, yet Nokia’s trusted name and reputation in this field are sure to outweigh the Canadian company.

Nokia opened its Ovi email offering last month, the service targets first-time email users and includes a messaging service.

Tom Furlong, head of Nokia's consumer messaging services, said, "The service is up, people are utilising it, we are getting good traction and good follow up.”

He continued to say that with the Nokia messaging service, the company is going after consumers, not going head-to-head with enterprise e-mail. "We are trying to put mobile email to the masses... masses of people around the globe".

The mobile giant ditched its own corporate email last year, quickly realising that the money was elsewhere, consequently teaming up with Microsoft and IBM instead.

"The rivalry now is as intense as it has ever been, with Microsoft and IBM on-board Nokia is now in position to take on RIM," CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber said.

These two deals should hopefully tie up 90 per cent of corporate emails without any extra investment from corporations, giving Nokia a big boost in this sector.

"For Nokia the timing is perfect – the economic climate is driving the message of costs," Blaber continued to blabber on. μ

L'Inq
Reuters