RIM To Bring S60 E-Mail SupportRIM To Bring S60 E-Mail Support

Nokia fans with BlackBerry Enterprise Servers were left out in the cold when the handset maker axed the BlackBerry Connect e-mail system last year. But Research In Motion is said to be finding a way for mobile workers with Nokia smartphones to get push corporate e-mail on the go.

"We are in the interim period of time when we have dropped support ourselves, and BlackBerry is readying support for their service on Nokia devices," Tom Furlong, head of Nokia's messaging services, told Reuters.

After struggling to gain traction in the U.S. market with its own enterprise software, Nokia has shifted its focus and turned to a strategic-partner approach for S60 handsets like the E71.

Last September, the company enabled Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for all of its S60 3rd edition handsets. With this, mobile workers could get push corporate e-mail, calendar, tasks, contact information, and other services from Exchange on Nokia smartphones.

The company also teamed with IBM to bring Lotus Notes Support to nearly 80 million S60 handsets. With Lotus and Exchange support, Nokia said nearly 90% of business e-mails can be mobilized with Nokia handsets without purchasing additional servers, middleware, or licenses.

The handset manufacturer is putting its efforts behind reaching casual consumers, and it has boosted its mobile messaging and e-mail programs with acquisitions and new services.

"Our approach is to make e-mail a mass-market proposition for everybody, not just for the corporate boardroom group of individuals where BlackBerry has established itself," said Simon Ainslie, Nokia's U.K. managing director.