I’m live here at the Uplinq conference and Nokia CEO Stephen Elop just got off stage and basically re-iterated what he’s been saying about why Nokia chose Windows Phone over Android. While we’ve heard this before, he did dedicate a segment to the tablet market and essentially said that we shouldn’t expect a Nokia tablet until it can compete with the Apple iPad.
Elop said that there are probably 201 tablets coming to the market soon but only one of those is actually selling in droves, attracting developers and exciting consumers. While the Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook and others are interesting devices, these are clearly not doing as well as the Apple iPad. A Nokia tablet won’t come out if it’s just number 202, Elop said.
He did talk about how Microsoft just introduced Windows 8 with a strong touch-based interface that’s obviously optimized for tablets but he didn’t go as far as committing to it. A Nokia tablet has to be able to stand out from the crowd, as well as generate revenues for the company, he simply said.
Apple, Research In Motion, LG, Samsung, Motorola and nearly every other major mobile device maker has its tablet strategy in place so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for a Nokia tablet to hit the market. I expect the company to embrace Windows 8 for its tablets and it should be a featured hardware partner once Windows 8 is on the market. This will likely stoke the rumors that Microsoft will buy Nokia.
Are you excited about a Nokia tablet with Windows 8? Say what you will about the Finnish company but it still knows how to do some stellar industrial design. I need more time with Microsoft’s new operating system to really judge it but it seems powerful and user friendly. Of course, by the time a Nokia tablet lands it might be facing an iPad 3 or 4, so it may be some stiff competition.