Microsoft Office Apps for Symbian? It Makes Perfect Sense
Microsoft (MSFT) would bring Office productivity apps to Symbian, the old phone operating system from Nokia (NOK). That has surprised some. Kevin Tofel at GigaOM called it "a bit of a head-scratcher, given that Nokia has publicly committed to support Symbian only through 2016."
But the announcement makes perfect sense, if you consider the Microsoft and Nokia partnership on Windows Phone. What you see is some business pragmatism and old-fashioned logrolling, demonstrated in four stages.
1) Microsoft needs Nokia's support
Get past the fanboy fanaticism of either Apple's (AAPL) iOS on the iPhone and Google's (GOOG) Android and Windows Phone isn't all that bad. It's a real touch-based operating system with a distinct look and feel. Perfect? Nope. But for a first version Microsoft product, it's impressive.
That hasn't made it a success. However, the problem has been practical and beyond product quality. The iPhone got a huge lead out of the gate -- deservedly so -- and that would have been fine, because Apple doesn't license iOS. But Google gives Android away, which decimated the hardware vendor audience for Microsoft.
You can't push a rope, and right now that's what ties Windows Phone to smartphones. CEO Steve Ballmer needed a company with the potential to sell lots of units to buy into the operating system.
2) Nokia needs to move fast
Enter Nokia, which has been on a burning platform, as it lost market share in a quickly changing competitive landscape. The company put itself there by complacently ignoring both the iPhone and Android.
Co-development of the MeeGo operating system with Intel (INTC) was taking too long. The company needed to get out of its Not Invented Here syndrome and find something that would work. New CEO Stephen Elop, a Microsoft veteran, still didn't want to move from MeeGo to a string of me-too Android phones. So he did a deal with his former boss, Steve Ballmer.
3) Nokia needs Symbian phones to last a few more years
But it would still take some time to get Windows Phone running on the company's hardware and then to push sales. Is that still possible? Sure. Contrary to what fanboys think, they aren't representative of the bulk of the buying public. Most consumers buy a product, not an operating system. That's why some Android phones do better than others. Chances are that most consumers have no idea what Android is. They just buy a Motorola (MMI) Droid or an HTC Inspire.
If Nokia pulls off the design right, it still could get back in the smartphone game after a big drop in sales. Motorola managed to. But the company can't suddenly fast-forward to the future and skip the time in between. Nokia needs a transition. Like it or not, that means Symbian has to keep moving along. In fact, the operating system would become Nokia's low end as more consumers drop feature phones for smartphones.
4) Mutual back scratching
But Nokia doesn't want to pour too much effort into improving Symbian. It's just had a major overhaul. Instead, Nokia needs to give people reasons to consider the OS. That's where Microsoft now does a favor for Nokia and delivers Office apps for integration.
Although Microsoft will start with products like OneNote, it is supposed to have Word, Excel, and PowerPoint available in the first half of next year, which would mean fairly corporate-friendly features.
The move extends the Symbian brand into a lower cost business-oriented phone that should find strong interest in emerging markets and companies that want to extend mobile capabilities to more employees without the price tag of an iPhone or higher-end Android unit. It also helps Nokia introduce a higher pricing strategy for Windows Phone models.
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Erik Sherman is a widely published writer and editor who also does select ghosting and corporate work. The views expressed in this column belong to Sherman and do not represent the views of CBS Interactive. Follow him on Twitter at @ErikSherman or on Facebook.
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