Windows Live services on Nokia S60 coming to the US

It was 2006 when Nokia and Microsoft first announced a partnership that would bring Microsoft's software to cell phones, and 2007 when it was announced a second time. At last, the results of their pairing will soon be appreciated in America.

A Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews this morning that the company's Windows Live services for Nokia's Symbian 60-based cell phones, which is already available in 25 countries, will have that number expanded to 33 by the end of the day today, with the United States being one of those new countries.

A BetaNews check of Nokia's Web site for Windows Live services at 1:00 pm EDT this afternoon revealed the seven new countries -- which also include Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Poland, and Romania -- had not yet been added to Nokia's list. Nokia phone owners are being asked to download Windows Live services from Nokia's region-specific Downloads list.

An English-language instructions page sent by Nokia to its customers asks them to manually refresh their list of available downloads, and then download the main service from the updated list; it should appear as WinLive. Once that has been downloaded and active, customers can then download each Windows Live service individually, including Windows Live Messenger (not Windows Messenger), Windows Live Hotmail (not Windows Live Mail), Live Contacts, and the service's social network, Windows Live Spaces.

While services are initially free, a notice buried deep on Nokia's Web site today indicated that Windows Live Messenger users may, at some point, be notified that they have to pay a fee. This in light of the fact that customers will obviously be interested in using the network to bypass SMS text messaging, which continues to be a profit center for many carriers.

A complete list of compatible Nokia S60 handsets appears here. The company warns that N73 users must first upgrade to the latest version of the system firmware.

The effort to begin endowing Nokia phones with Microsoft's software began in September 2006, though both companies officially re-announced their partnership a full 11 months later. At that time, the first Nokia S60 phones with Windows Live services began cropping up throughout Europe.