It a bid to fend off growing competition from the likes of Google and Apple, Nokia, the largest cell phone company in the world, and Microsoft, the desktop operating system leader and leading smartphone competitor, will announce a deal today where the latter will place its Office software on the former's smartphones.

While details a scarce at this time, the companies do plan to hold a joint news conference later this morning. What is known is that next year Nokia will install a mobile or lightweight version of Microsoft Office on its phones next year, just like Redmond has long done with Windows Mobile and that platform's predecessors.

We assume Microsoft will port Microsoft office to the Symbian/S60 platform Nokia uses for its smartphones; a smart move, considering that Symbian/60 is used on more smartphones worldwide than any other, in spite of the inroads made by Apple and RIM in recent years.

This isn't a new strategy for Microsoft. After all, a version of its Office suite is one of the most popular applications for the chief rival desktop platform to Windows, Apple Macintosh.

The partnership will make Nokia's smartphones more attractive to business, especially here in the U.S. where it has had trouble gaining a foothold, while Microsoft gains access to another platform from which to earn revenues.

Update: The two companies made their deal official a little while ago. In addition to Office Mobile, it includes Office Communicator Mobile, SharePoint, and Microsoft System Center. So, next year, Nokia intends to start shipping Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile on its smartphones, followed by other Office applications and related software and services in the future. These will include

The ability to view, edit, create and share Office documents on more devices in more places with mobile-optimized versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft OneNote

Enterprise instant messaging and presence, and optimized conferencing and collaboration experience with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile

Mobile access to intranet and extranet portals built on Microsoft SharePoint Server

Enterprise device management with Microsoft System Center

See video below of Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Nokia’s Executive Vice President for Devices Kai Öistämö and here for more on Nokia and Microsoft's mobile partnership.

In related news, contrary to a report from the German edition of the Financial Times, Nokia has no plans to ditch the Symbian platform for the Linux-based Maemo operating system, used in its tablet devices, on its smartphones.

"We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for cellular devices, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS...," Nokia said in a statement.

It was only last December that Nokia bumped its stake in Symbian up to 52 percent, giving it a controlling interest in the company.

"We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for cellular devices, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS...," Nokia said in a statement.

A tweet from Nokia exec Peter Schneider, in charge of Maemo marketing, puts the kibosh on the idea that Nokia's kicking Symbian to the curb as well.

See here for more information on Nokia's smartphone platform plans.