Nokia announced today its new deal with Microsoft which is set to expand the corporate e-mail access to 80 million Nokia phones. The move has been considered for quite some time, as RIM, Blackberry’s maker, is closing in in sales figures.

"Nokia owners whose companies use Exchange can set up Mail for Exchange for free on their devices in various ways without paying additional services or subscription fees," Nokia said in a statement. The company will allow access to Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync e-mail from all the Nokia devices equipped with the S60 software.

David Petts, senior vice president for business mobility for Nokia, explained that users will now be able to set their e-mail priorities, receive alerts for meeting conflicts and get a global address list application to search for colleagues using the same e-mail server. There is also a feature called Out of Office which allows users to set auto-responders from their portables.
At this point the offer includes 43 different models of Nokia phones and they will all ensure an easy access to Microsoft’s corporate mail. The Microsoft Exchange support will also be added for all new N-Series and E-Series phones that will be released in the future.

Bill Plummer, vice president of sales and go-to-market for Nokia Americas, explained that the software embedded on the phone and the automatic software update will ensure the easiest access possible and most of the users will not even need the help of their IT departments. This is considered a very useful tool and Nokia hopes to win some extra popularity points in its battle with the competition.