Nokia has cut its ties with RIM’s BlackBerry brand on its new business handsets, in an attempt to turn up the heat in the battle for business phone supremacy.

Mobile can reveal that Nokia’s E71 and E66 phones will become the first Eseries devices that won’t house the popular BlackBerry Connect application, in a move designed to help Nokia reclaim its dominance of the business phone market.

The E71 and E66 devices are currently being shipped to the UK and are due in stores within the next few days.

The split between the manufacturers will force consumers to make a direct choice between the brands, with Nokia consumers now most likely to take on the Microsoft Exchange application.

 Nokia UK MD Simon Ainslie told Mobile: ‘RIM are a competitor and have done a reasonable job in a space that is traditionally ours, so it’s no great surprise that we see this as an opportunity to give consumers a proper choice on what email solution they want.

‘Our approach is to make email a mass-market proposition for everybody, not just for the corporate boardroom group of individuals where BlackBerry has established itself.’

The E71 and E66 will go head-to-head with RIM’s imminent release, the BlackBerry Bold. But arguably the most significant clash could take place between the Nokia E71 and the BlackBerry Pearl.