Nokia (along with GBS, and Blackberry) was one of the top level sponsors of Lotusphere 2011, they had a huge pedestal in the vendor showcase, and generated a lot of buzz with their Nokia E7 giveaway.
One of the takeaways I had from the Lotus Mobile Strategy session was the fact that Windows Mobile / Windows Phone 7 were not mentioned at all. Currently Traveler officially supports up to Windows Mobile 6.5, and by all reports the Windows Phone 7 is not exactly flying off the shelves, so I can understand Lotus not running to add Traveler support.
So has Nokia after working to build a partnership with IBM on Traveler, and spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 to sponsor Lotusphere now jumped ship? Even better question does it matter? Nokia sales are way down (in the US they are basically non-existent) people are jumping to Android and iOS.
Perhaps this is just one less platform for IBM to focus on now, and more effort will be placed on the RIM Partnership, and developing Traveler and Mobile Apps for Android and iOS which to me would be a good thing.
In my opinion Nokia should have looked at Android, though I guess Google wasn’t offering them millions that Microsoft reportedly did to embrace Windows Phone 7.
What do you think? Is Nokia making the right move embracing Windows Mobile, or is this a step in figuring out which three mobile platforms will survive.
Nokia is still a big player in Europe and Asia. I too am wondering what this means for Notes Traveler. So I’ll be watching the discussion 🙂
I don’t like Windows Phone 7 or Nokia, i am a iPhone fan how loves IBM Lotus. But in countries where Nokia has a strong position (Europe), a decision not to support Windows Phone 7 in Lotus Traveler means that customers may begin to consider changing to Exchange… I hope IBM will add support and I hope no one buys these Nokia/Win 7 Phones. 🙂
Mistake of the century by Nokia. Anyone remember when Palm disconnected their development? Rinse, repeat.
Still I think we’ll see WM7 support in Traveler now.
Having to recently test a Nokia phone for Traveler, I think any departure from Symbian is probably good. It may have been a slightly older model (E73), however I found the interface to be deplorable compared to the likes of iPhone, Android, and even Blackberry. I have only briefly used a WP7, but didn’t mind the interface, and thought it had a pretty clean feel. I think this may give WP7 a boost in Europe, so would hope to see Traveler support follow after that.
Nokia has basically been going it alone for many years with the Symbian platform. The promise of Meego – with the backing of (outside the US) the world’s most popular mobile manufacturer – put Nokia on the threshold of having a platform to rival Android and iOS.
The insertion of an (ex) Microsoft exec into the Nokia ranks has obviously changed the game plan.
My initial reaction was #WTF!
Windows Phone 7 has not been popular from what I have observed, but by getting into bed with the powerhouse that is Nokia, Microsoft may have the opportunity to reinvigorate their mobile market share.
Time will tell.
The most important thing from an IBM perspective is that Nokia and Microsoft will do what ever they can to drive their devices and the platform.
That upshot is that IBM Lotus Traveler needs to be running on Windows Phone 7 sooner, rather than later.
I agree that IBM will have to closely watch the momentum that WP7 may develop as a result of this partnership.
My initial reaction when I heard about the announcement was to visit Ed Brill’s site to see if anyone had started posting comments to old Traveler articles regarding the potential of now needing to supporting WP7.
I was shocked that they choose WP7 after seeing the huge booth at Lotusphere and native apps running on the new E7. I also think Android would have been a better choice and I think IBM better get the traveler team to start looking at WP7.
I have users complaining that it took IBM soooo long to get Android support. I think IBM did great since Android was nothing 2 years ago, and delivered a traveler client in less than 12 months.
Rumor is, Nokia looked at RIM as well as Google before deciding on Windows Phone 7. My wife has a Samsung Focus (Windows Phone 7) and she loves it. However, like iPhone and the Android when they were first introduced, Windows Phone 7 is missing a number of key enterprise features. Microsoft made some big promises at Mobile World Congress. They need to deliver. Android and iPhone have huge head starts