Microsoft Mobile Office needed Nokia, Symbian

If you're in the U.S. you can hardly restrain the yawns about the Nokia-Microsoft pact to bring Office Mobile to Symbian phones. Zoom out globally and the Microsoft-Nokia partnership is an important beachhead for the software giant.

Under an agreement, Nokia and Microsoft will begin collaborating to bring Microsoft Office Mobile and communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokia's Symbian phones. From a U.S. perspective, the deal is meaningless---you'll be hard pressed to find Nokia phones---especially smartphones.

Internationally, however, Microsoft's partnership with Nokia could be a big deal. If Microsoft wants global Mobile Office adoption the company has to run on more than just Windows Mobile. Gartner's just released smartphone market share standings tell the tale:

Nokia by far is the smartphone leader worldwide. Research in Motion is a distant second. If Microsoft wants to get its mobile productivity apps set up for global acceptance it has to go through Nokia. A Windows Mobile-Office bundle just won't work abroad.

Indeed, Windows Mobile represented just 9 percent of the worldwide smartphone operating system market in the second quarter. Symbian had 51 percent, down from 57 percent a year ago, according to Gartner.

The software partnership kicks off with Nokia's enterprise focused Eseries.