Nokia Corp. released a new, low-priced wireless e-mail product that will work with almost any new mobile phone, be it a low-end, voice-centric device or a high-end smart phone. The offering sets Nokia squarely in the wireless enterprise marketplace and pits the company directly against players like Research In Motion Ltd., Good Technology Inc., Visto Corp., Seven Networks Inc., Intellisync Corp. and others.
“This brings mobile e-mail to the corporate masses,” explained Dave Grannan, general manager of Nokia’s e-mail group. “We really want all of the workforce mobilized.”
Nokia’s new Business Center offering includes a Java client for phones and a server that can be installed behind a company’s firewall. The system gives users wireless access to e-mails and other information. Nokia said it also will offer a hosted version of the offering.
The Java MIDP 2.0 software comes in two versions-a free rendition that supports e-mail sending and receiving and a “professional” version that offers access to e-mail, calendar and contacts. Nokia’s Grannan said the company’s Business Center initially will support Java phones made by Nokia, but also would be able to support phones from rival suppliers like Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
The Business Center server costs about $2,200 for 400 users, and the professional version of the Java software costs around $67 per phone.
When it is released later this year, the Business Center will support Microsoft Corp.’s Exchange program. Nokia will add support for IBM Corp.’s Domino program in the first quarter of next year and later will add support for other e-mail programs.
Interestingly, Nokia plans to sell its new wireless e-mail offering on a white-label basis, primarily through wireless carriers and information-technology vendors. Good recently engaged in a similar sales strategy, pulling back from its direct sales efforts. Grannan said the Nokia Business Center will be available to resellers at about 40 percent off its street price of $2,200.
Grannan said there are 650 million corporate e-mail inboxes, but only around 10 million that include wireless components. He said the company’s new offering is an attempt to break open the rest of the wireless e-mail market. Grannan predicted that Nokia will score between 20 percent and 30 percent of the wireless e-mail market during the next three years.
Nokia’s strategy puts it in the middle of the wireless e-mail market. RIM with its BlackBerry offering is the current market leader with more than 3 million subscribers. Both RIM and Good have positioned their offerings as platforms that can support e-mail as well as other wireless enterprise applications. Other market players, like Seven and Visto, sell their wares on a hosted basis through wireless carriers and other vendors.
“We are taking a slightly positive stance on the launch of the Nokia Business Center as a progressive, if slightly late, attempt to gain some middle ground in the diverse enterprise mobility market,” wrote research and consulting firm Current Analysis in a recent note.
Grannan pointed out that Nokia’s new Business Center product does not rely on a network operations center, or NOC. In a NOC system, corporate e-mails are first sent to a network server before they are distributed to a wireless device. Under Nokia’s offering, e-mails remain inside a corporation’s network and are delivered directly to a wireless device, bypassing the need for a NOC.
RIM’s BlackBerry service uses a NOC, which forms the basis for NTP Inc.’s patent lawsuit against the company. However, Nokia has an agreement with NTP and therefore doesn’t have to worry about patent infringement. Grannan said the company decided not to use a NOC because some corporate customers prefer to keep their e-mails inside their own private networks.
“We don’t have that middle piece in there,” Grannan explained.
“This summer, substantial numbers of BlackBerry RIM customers faced a push e-mail blackout after RIM servers crashed twice in one week, leading many enterprises to question the logic of relying on a third party to host, update and manage the solution externally on a closed, proprietary network,” wrote Current Analysis. “The new `NOC-less’ generation of products essentially put solution control and management back into the enterprise’s hands, where it really should have been all along.”
Nokia previously offered a browser-based wireless e-mail product called Nokia One Business. The company’s new Business Center offering replaces that and offers a glimpse into the evolution of Nokia’s Enterprise division. Nokia restructured its operations in 2003, partly to add a division specifically focused on selling wireless to the enterprise. To date, the division has focused on high-end smart phones like the 9300. Nokia’s Business Center offers an indication that Nokia has plans to flesh out its enterprise wares.
In other wireless enterprise news:
- iAnywhere Solutions Inc. and Salesforce.com said they teamed to develop Sales Anywhere for Salesforce, a product that gives Salesforce.com users wireless access to their corporate information. The companies said the offering provides access to customer relationship management, intranet, legacy systems and other applications.
- Cingular Wireless L.LC. said it will resell Sendia Corp.’s product for Salesforce.com users. The offering, dubbed Cingular Wireless for Salesforce by Sendia, works on Cingular’s BlackBerry and Palm Inc. devices. RCR
