Microsoft Launches Joint Venture With Ericsson

Microsoft, in a joint venture with Ericsson, today launched Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB. This previously announced joint company will develop and market mobile email solutions for operators.

The first of these solutions from the new company are expected to be on the market by the end of the year.

Preparations for the joint company have been ongoing for the past months. A management team is now in place, recruitment has begun and operations are running.

In addition, the European Union Commission has reported that the formation of the joint company will not be subject to EUC merger review filing, which means that the legal entity can be formed.

Microsoft will hold a 30 percent share of the company, which will be headquartered in Stockholm.

The company will develop solutions, based on Ericsson’s and Microsoft’s products that enable mobile operators to offer easy-to-use and secure mobile e-mail to both corporate and consumer customers.

“Mobile e-mail should be as easy as talking on a mobile phone, which is basically what we will help mobile operators deliver to their customers,” says Ulf Avrin, president of Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB.

The solutions will also include calendar, to-do list and other personal information management tools, and will provide professional users with full mobile access to corporate data.

The Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB is part of a broader strategic alliance between Ericsson and Microsoft. This alliance also includes cooperation on the use of the Microsoft Mobile Explorer browser for Ericsson’s feature phones, licensing of Ericsson’s WAP technology for use in Microsoft solutions, and distribution of the Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client together with applicable Ericsson phones.

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