The first fruit of the enterprise alliance between Microsoft and Nokia, which was announced in August last year, is now available. Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia, a 'unified communications client', is now available in Nokia's Ovi Store for the Nokia E72 and E52. The application ties in to Microsoft's Office Communications Server 2007 product; it offers the ability to view a colleague's status and then choose the most appropriate communication method - instant messaging, email, text or voice call. More below.

Here's what Microsoft and Nokia have to say about the new application:

“Our alliance with Nokia aims to bring the Microsoft Office productivity experience to the millions of people using Nokia smartphones around the world,” said Kirt Debique, general manager, Microsoft Office Communications Platform & Solutions Group, Microsoft. “With the arrival of Communicator Mobile for Nokia today, we have a great start to fulfilling our joint vision.”

“This application really provides a much more efficient way to work with others, as you can see if someone is busy or available and the best way to start a conversation with them,” said Ukko Lappalainen, vice president at Nokia. “It also meets all of the requirements for the enterprise: cost-effective to implement, secure, familiar and reliable.”

Microsoft Mobile Communicator is an enterprise solution that extends an existing Office Communications set up. It is designed to improve communications between employees by providing status information and multiple communication channels from a single usage point. Mobile usage incurs no addition license fees, uses the same user accounts and passwords, is fully encrypted and is intended to provide a familiar look and feel to those using Office Communicator on a PC.

They key features of the Microsoft Communicator for Nokia application are:

• Ability to start the application directly from home screen or phone book (similar to Ovi Contacts)
     
• Contact list shows presence information and Corporate directory searching shows presence status
     
• Update your own presence status (available, busy, do not disturb and away)
     
• Start and join instant messaging sessions and view missed conversations; multiple IM sessions can be run at the same time.
     
• Send email messages directly from contact card and start voice calls directly from contact card
     

Microsoft and Nokia plan to pre-install Communicator Mobile on a number of Nokia products and are planning to supported additional devices, including the forthcoming Nokia E5.

Microsoft Communicator can be downloaded, for free, from the Ovi Store here. 

A more limited Java version had been announced previously; it supports the Nokia E51, E63, E66, E71 and N96.

More information is available in the press release.