Long term rivals Nokia and Microsoft have buried the hatchet to stick Redmond's Office software on Nokia mobiles.

Microsoft’s lucrative Office line faces an emerging competitive threat from free Web-based word processing, spreadsheet and other software, especially from Google. Punters are also using smartphones to do tasks that once could be done only on personal computers.

Analysts say that the deal is a case of the “enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Nokia and Microsoft have been rivals for years in cellphone operating systems, with Nokia adopting Symbian software and shunning Windows Mobile. It might not mean a total move to Redmond's products, they said.

More details are to come.