We've heard more than a few murmurings about a Nokia tablet in recent months, but one analyst company reckons it'll be a while before we actually see the device. That's because the Finnish phone firm won't launch a slate PC at Mobile World Congress in a week's time, according to Strategy Analytics.
It's been conducting "extensive channel checks" and found that Nokia doesn't have a tablet in the works. At least, not at a stage ready for production.
"We believe Nokia's strategy will be 'smart phones first' for MWC this year," Strategy Analytics says on its website. "And rightly so. Nokia will want to expand its Lumia smart phone range and solidify its growing leadership of the global WP8 market."
This week, the rumours started flying again when a distinctly tablet-shaped device was spotted at the launch of the Lumia 620 in Pakistan. Nokia was quick to deny it though, with a spokesperson telling My Nokia Blog (well, not my Nokia blog), "That's not a leak. That is a picture that simply shows WP UI alongside Win8 Tablet UI alongside Xbox UI. They are not Nokia specific products."
However, the spokesperson wouldn't deny that Nokia was making a tablet. And going on past evidence, I reckon it is. CEO Stephen Elop recently told reporters in Sydney that Nokia was eyeing up the tablet market. It's something "we are looking at very closely," he said.
And he previously told Bloomberg that he was excited about the opportunity Windows 8 offered for tablets. "There's a new tablet opportunity coming," he said. "We see the opportunity. Unquestionably, that will change the dynamics [of the tablet market]."
Last March, Nokia's design supremo Marko Ahtisaari told a Finnish magazine that working on a tablet took up a third of his time.
All of which points to Nokia launching a tablet at some point. It might not be at Mobile World Congress, but I'd wager the Fins have something tablet-sized up their sleeve.
What do you reckon? And what would you like to see from a Nokia tablet? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
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Comments 9
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anonymous 17 February, 2013 16:15
Good, it would be terrible like everything else windows is making at the moment, let's hope the Xbox is a bit better..
anonymous 17 February, 2013 19:58
LOL! I think Nokia needs to learn how to prices its devices rather than jumping to the Tablet bandwagon. At the moment Lenovo is proving to be the real challenger to Microsoft tablet.
Damien2501 17 February, 2013 20:32
^Agreed. I'm glad Nokia is diversifying, but it's products are soo expensive, and don't really offer anything special to justify the high price. It's tablet whether it runs Windows or Android will likely be the same...And even if their products do cost £100 less, they still won't have a USP.
anonymous 18 February, 2013 09:26
So expensive?
Is there a better smartphone for the money than the new 620?
Rhetorical question. There isn't.
Damien2501 18 February, 2013 10:14
I agree their lower end smartphones are more competitively priced and offer more than their Android counterparts, but the Lumia 920 is very expensive.
anonymous 18 February, 2013 12:20
I wouldn't like to see a Nokia tablet, I can't see their future being far from that of netbooks, low end, low price consumption devices. Fair play to Apple for having made a lot of money out of them, but as Android (and hopefully win phone) devices bring all of the UI sleekness and more at lower price points, the future looks very volume based for them. I don't think this is a good market for Nokia, they are a premium brand and sell on construction values, durability and style, all of which tend to go out of the window in a race to the bottom.
Matt Winston. 18 February, 2013 22:48
Nokia phones dont have anything innovative to justify their stupid prices and frankly their is nothing premium about Nokia phones. But a real phone people:
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb&feature=microsite&hl=en
anonymous 19 February, 2013 09:50
Nexus 4?! Have a word with yourself, no NFC and a crappy case. Nothing premium about it. I'm doing this from a Nexus 7, so I'm a Google fan, but please, it's not premium. Samsung SIII or Xperia Z, and yes the well made well specced 920 if you want 'premium' and don't like iPhone.
Matt Winston. 19 February, 2013 12:19
@ above commenter
What are you talking about? Why on earth do you need NFC?? Shame on all Apple and Android fans where did all these Windows fans come from? Again everyone here is a real phone:
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb&feature=microsite&hl=en