LONDON-Nokia Corp. continues to pursue enterprise users, using last week’s Smartphone Show here to unveil a trio of advanced devices that pit the manufacturer squarely against Motorola Inc., Palm Inc. and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd.
The new Eseries handsets are designed for European, Middle Eastern and African markets, and are expected to be priced between $420 and $540 before carrier subsidies. The phones use the company’s Series 60 platform, which is based on the Symbian operating system, and are set for release in the first quarter of next year.
The E61 targets heavy data users with a design similar to the BlackBerry, Palm’s Treo and Motorola’s Q. Like other Eseries handsets, the E61 supports most major wireless e-mail offerings on the market, including solutions from Nokia, RIM, Good Technology Inc., Seven and Visto Corp.
The new W-CDMA E60 device features a candybar-style design and is built primarily for voice calls. Nokia said the device can connect directly to a company’s Avaya or Cisco IP PBX system.
Finally, Nokia’s E70 supports W-CDMA networks and features a flip-open keyboard.
The three initial phones-Nokia hinted that more Eseries handsets are on the way-support the latest Wi-Fi technologies as well as the W-CDMA protocol. The phones also support push-to-talk, Internet-based voice services and other SIP-based functions.
The announcement builds on Nokia’s commitment to the Symbian platform, and follows last month’s launch of the Nokia Business Center (NBC), which is designed to deliver e-mail and other applications to on-the-go workers. But while a half-dozen software developers are working to gain ground on RIM, which dominates the mobile e-mail playground, Nokia is hoping to entice business users who aren’t yet fully mobile, according to Mary McDowell, general manager of Nokia’s enterprise solutions business unit.
“This is not a matter of fighting over the relatively small pie that is there today,” McDowell said. “NBC is aimed at users who aren’t yet mobile.”
Analysts said the recent moves finally may help Nokia gain substantial traction among business users, particularly in markets outside the United States. While the lack of CDMA support will hurt U.S. sales, the variety of devices and mid-tier price points will prove attractive to users in other markets, according to Current Analysis analyst E. Mohr-McClune.
“Put alongside the vendor’s other enterprise-oriented initiatives and partnerships, the Eseries will serve to make Nokia significantly stronger, particularly in Europe,” McClune wrote last week. “The European enterprise market is crying out for decent full-QWERTY enterprise devices on the Symbian OS, and the new Eseries delivers, with form diversity.”
Meanwhile, in other device news, Palm released two new personal digital assistants last week, including its new TX handheld. The device supports Wi-Fi connections but not wide area network connections-typical of Palm’s Tungsten line of PDAs. The device is priced at $300.
Interestingly, Palm said the device can run MobiTV Inc.’s streaming TV application, which would work over the TX’s Wi-Fi connection. The application will be sold separately. MobiTV’s main business is in sales to mobile-phone subscribers. The company recently developed a version of its offering for Palm’s Treo smart phone.
Symbian continues to dominate the playground: the number of Symbian OS units shipped in the second quarter of 2005 reached nearly 8 million, tripling the previous year’s number, and an even dozen handset manufacturers now license Symbian OS. But Palm OS may be poised to gain market share from both Symbian and Microsoft Windows Mobile in the wireless OS space, according to a report released last week from ABI Research. “Symbian is still by far the market leader, but more Windows Mobile phones are reaching the market,” said Philip Solis, a senior analyst at ABI.” RCR
