Nokia to Embed Microsoft Exchange Support in All Symbian Phones

In an attempt to make their phones more business-friendly and win back market share from competitor Research in Motion, and stem the advances of other phones such as Apple’s iPhone, Nokia will be embedding Microsoft’s Activesync into all S60 Symbian phones to automatically make them compatible with Exchange.

The company made the announcement just before the opening of CTIA in San Francisco that all future N-Series and E-Series phones will also come with Activesync, making them compatible with Microsoft’s business mail service out of the box. Previously, users had to jump through hoops to download a poorly advertised plug-in from Nokia that did not always work to spec.

This announcement will see Activesync become available immediately on 43 different varieties of handset, accounting for over 80 million phones worldwide ; and will make Nokia a more attractive option for corporate users who make big use out of Microsoft Exchange. This will in turn allow Nokia to bring the fight to their biggest rival in the smartphone arena, RIM, who’s BlackBerry devices have ruled the field in the U.S. in particular.

Microsoft Exchange support has become an increasingly important check box to fill for handset makers, with Apple’s 3G iPhone also coming with Activesync to make it a viable, if extravagant, option for business users.

"The costs of mobility are contained as companies are able to utilize existing Microsoft Exchange infrastructure, and there is the strong possibility that a large number of employees already have on or more of the 43 Nokia devices that enable Exchange ActiveSync," said Nokia’s executive VP of new markets Anssi Vanjoki, in a statement.