The Empires Strike Back UpdateThe Empires Strike Back Update

Looks like Microsoft and Nokia will make an announcement tomorrow morning, and it could be a major deal considering the heft of the two companies. While Apple, Android, and Palm have been gaining the most attention in the mobile space, an alliance between these two companies could change the game dramatically.Unfortunately, I have no idea what they're going to announce. I do know they're going to have some sort of "alliance," and Microsoft's president of the business division and Nokia's EVP for devices will be there. This could mean this announcement will have a big impact on mobile professionals, but it could also mean we're in for a bland press conference about deeper Exchange integration into Nokia handsets.

Of course, if you want to get into wild speculation, Nokia has said it wanted to get into the laptop business, and Microsoft does have the netbook-friendly Windows 7 coming out soon. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that we don't see Nokia abandon Symbian though, as every talk I've had with them suggests they're into that operating system for the long haul.

Crazier things have happened though, and we'll have the speculation cleared tomorrow at 11 a.m. EST. Of course, information will be on top of it with news and analysis. Any tips on what's going down with Nokia and Microsoft? Drop me a line at [email protected], or tweet me @marinperez.

*Update* Well, looks like it may not be as game-changing as I would have liked, as The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft's Office is coming to a wide range of Nokia phones. A nice move for Nokia to get more mobile professionals, but nothing too major really. Who knows, the Journal can be wrong sometimes, so watch tomorrow for confirmation.