Nokia's partnership deal with IBM has been dismissed as "too little, too late" by analyst Gartner.

The agreement, revealed this week at 3GSM in Cannes, proposes adding Nokia software to IBM middleware, and an updated Communicator handset, model 9500, to take advantage of the new software.

But Gartner is unimpressed with the new device, which will not arrive until the end of 2004.

"We expect the 9500 to have a limited life and to be quickly replaced by superior products," said analysts Ben Wood and Nick Jones in a statement.

"IBM's enterprise software skills and products complement Nokia well, and will make the 9500 a useful and manageable corporate device. However, IBM's work on the 9500 platform seems unlikely to provide any meaningful return on investment.

"For enterprises, this is too little, too late. Enterprises that wish to use the Communicator platform should exploit the 9500 only for pilot projects, because it will likely have a limited life.

"The bottom line is that this is an unimpressive debut for Nokia's new Enterprise division."