Nokia bares upcoming updates to Symbian Belle

MANILA, Philippines - Nokia has announced forthcoming updates to its Symbian Belle operating system that will turn the latest range of smartphones into a mobile office for any business. 

The free updates, called Microsoft Apps, deliver a suite of Microsoft productivity applications to compatible Nokia smartphones to add to the comprehensive security and manageability features already contained in Symbian Belle. 

Requiring no additional infrastructure, these apps help add immediate business advantage to the first Symbian Belle devices as well as deliver significant additional value to existing Nokia business customers who upgrade to Symbian Belle.

“Work is an important part of personal lifestyle, aspiration and achievement for many people around the world,” said Purnima Kochikar, VP for business mobility of Nokia.

“Just as Symbian Belle extends the everyday possibilities for social interaction, we wanted to extend the possibilities to manage personal worklife for individuals and employers. Microsoft Apps is another example of Nokia’s ongoing commitment to continue delivering value and innovation to Symbian users,” Kochikar added.

“Microsoft productivity apps for Nokia Symbian will help customers remain connected to Microsoft Office documents and services when they’re on the go,” said Pat Fox, senior director of marketing and planning of Microsoft Office.

Available by the end of the fourth quarter with broad consumer availability at the beginning of 2012, Microsoft Apps will bring collaboration and productivity tools, including Microsoft Lync 2010 Mobile, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft PowerPoint Broadcast, and Microsoft Document Connection (which provides Microsoft SharePoint access) to Symbian Belle. An update in the first half of 2012 will introduce Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint as native applications for the first time outside the Windows platform.

Microsoft Apps will be delivered via software update over the air or via PC download and will function on the Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia 700, Nokia 701, Nokia 600 and Nokia Oro.

Additionally, Nokia is working with Microsoft to provide mobile device management of Symbian Belle devices through Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012.