Microsoft: If You Can't Beat Them, Then...You Know

Looks like Microsoft is enlisting help in the mobile war.  This time, it is working with mobile leader (in terms of marketshare) Nokia by adding Microsoft's office suite on its smartphones.

Does the deal make sense?  According to WSJ's reasoning, it does since both companies, with plenty in their mobile arsenal but aren't really doing to well with smaller and more agile competitors like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, can look to combine their forces and muster up some kind of response.

Nokia with its marketshare and armed with Microsoft's mobile Office suite could be just the thing.  If not in the minds of the consumers, it should make CIOs in the corporate world take another look at Symbian devices.

Will this work?  Only time will tell.  It is perfect timing as Apple and Google seems to be going their separate ways.  This, at the very least, is welcoming news to Nokia and Microsoft.  They'll use each other to beef up their positions (Symbian devices and WM 7).

I wonder if there could be more.  It would be completely find for Nokia to use Windows Mobile in a phone or two.  But more than that, Microsoft can really do Google some damage if Nokia will use Bing as the default search engine on its phones.

We'll know soon enough tomorrow.  I'm hoping Bing will be a big part of tomorrow's announcement.

Source:  CBS Marketwatch, WSJ