Nokia's BlackBerry-killers get Oracle field apps
Several mobile enterprise applications from Oracle have been made available for Nokia's popular E61 smartphone.
The Finnish handset giant announced on Tuesday that it had certified applications including Oracle Mobile Field Service and Oracle's Siebel Wireless for both the E61 device and its US-centric counterpart, the E62, which doesn't include Wi-Fi.
Mobile Field Service is designed to allow workers in the field to access work schedules and job information, while Siebel Wireless is a mobile customer relationship management (CRM) application.
"By bringing our enterprise application expertise to Nokia E-series business devices, we are delivering a mobile solution to organisations worldwide that enables mobile professionals to make informed decisions more quickly," said Anand Subbaraman, Oracle's director of field service product strategy.
Oracle's senior director of mobile product strategy, Guy Waterman, said the Siebel Wireless deal would provide a "critical market differentiation for enterprises seeking to gain a competitive advantage through mobile CRM deployments".
Oracle also announced on Monday that it had bought Metasolv, a network management automation firm specialising in telecoms. Metasolv's biggest contract is with BT Global Services, for whom it acts as a provisioning partner.
The E61 and E62 handsets are generally regarded as Nokia's answer to RIM's range of BlackBerry devices.