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Research In Motion is the king of enterprise messaging with its BlackBerry wireless handhelds. Today, Nokia unveiled its latest play for the same market with its new e-series—E60, E61 and E70—of smartphones.

More Mob-E-Mail
The most important enterprise function for a smartphone is the ability to send and recieve e-mail. Nokia doesn't skimp on this capability with the e-series.

In fact, one of Nokia's partners in this endeavor is RIM itself: The e-series supports BlackBerry Connect, a service that allows devices other than BlackBerries to leverage RIM's e-mail and data access solutions.

E-series handsets can handle a number of other messaging platforms as well. These services include GoodLink from Good Technology, Seven Mobile Mail & Always-On Mail, Visto Mobile and Nokia's own new Nokia Business Center.

Like RIM BlackBerry, the Finnish phone giants solution is push-based, so there is no need for the user to request (or pull) messages down from the server.

The free standard Nokia Business Center client lets users read and delete e-mail, manage local folders and work offline. It also delivers push-based e-mail and security features. A professional client (available for a small upgrade fee) includes all the traits of the standard version, but with a richer, graphical e-mail interface that is closer to using desktop e-mail.

Additional professional client characteristics include the ability to manage meeting requests, sort views, read and edit attachments, access any employee's contact information from a company's corporate directory, and search local folders.

Common Features
All three e-series smartphones are built on the Series 60 3rd Edition platform running on top of Symbian OS version 9.1. They include a variety of GSM frequencies and 3G (WCDMA) cellular network support for seamless roaming across different countries, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Infrared plus USB 2.0 compatibility.

Nokia says the devices support advanced voice features, such as Internet (Voice over IP) phone calls, Push to talk, and other SIP-based rich call solutions. In addition, companies deploying an Avaya or Cisco IP PBX can connect e-series smartphones directly to their corporate phone networks, enabling functions like four-digit dialing and assisted call answering.

"When we carefully considered the requirements of our customers when developing these devices, two clear new trends emerged: the need for IT departments' to have a secure and manageable platform, and the need for devices to support a variety of employee preferences and different working styles," said Niklas Savander, senior vice president of Nokia's business device unit.

The e-series handsets come in three distinct form factors.

Nokia E60
A classic looking voice-orientated candy bar-shaped smartphone, the E60 supports an array of advanced call features from integrated speakerphone and conference calling to voice-aided applications like Push to talk, and IP-based telephony.


Nokia E60

Although optimized for one-handed use, Nokia says its large color screen makes e-mail and calendar entries easy. The E60 operates on GSM 900/1800/1900 and WCDMA2100 networks.

Nokia E61
The E61 looks quite a bit like a BlackBerry or Treo smartphone. It is no doubt designed to draw customers away from those two market leaders. The device has a four-way joystick and QWERTY thumb-keyboard combined with a wide 16 million color screen.

Full attachment handling (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF viewer and ZIP manager) and an editing function (document, spreadsheet and presentation) are included. It also has the same advanced business call features and IP-based telephony functions as the E60 and E70 (see below).


Nokia E61

With it, you can even send and receive e-mails when on a phone call. The E61 operates on GSM850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA2100 networks.

Nokia E70
Closed, the Nokia E70 looks like a typical smartphone. Open it up and you find a full messaging keyboard. The handset supports the same attachment viewing and editing functions as the E61.


Nokia E70 Closed

Nokia will offer two versions of the Nokia E70—one optimized for mobile networks in Europe and Asia (GSM900/1800/1900/WCDMA 2100) and the other for mobile networks in the Americas (GSM850/1800/1900). Nonetheless, both versions are able to roam in GSM networks across regions.


Nokia E70 Open

The three e-series models are due to ship during the first quarter of next year. More data on the smartphones models, such as detailed technical specifications, can be found here. We'll report more on the devices, such as price and release date, as that information becomes available.