Nokia May Produce Windows 8 Tablets
Nokia indicated that the Lumia experience will appear on tablets and PCs in the future.
With Nokia's Windows Phone-based Lumia 800 and 710 smartphones now out in the open for all to see, the company may be setting its sights on producing tablets with Windows 8. The news arrives by way of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop in an interview with The Financial Times.
"We're not commenting on specific plans for tablets, but one of the things that we are excited about in terms of support for the Windows Phone are the announcements that Microsoft made around Windows 8 for tablets and personal computers," Elop said. "When you see the user experience from the Nokia Lumia environment appearing on hundreds of millions of tablets and PCs in the future, you can see that there is a clear synergy between all those environments. So that presents an interesting opportunity for Nokia."
Naturally the interview focused on the two new Nokia phones announced this week. When asked if the launch will be the "make or break" moment for Nokia, Elop instead described it as one step in the company's journey of transformation. He also added that Nokia will learn from its first Windows Phone launch no matter the outcome, refine and then keep going -- meaning Nokia isn't going anywhere even if the new Lumia phones sell like the KIN smartphones.
But Elop seems confident that he'll rule the smartphone world and take down that pesky fruity competitor. "There's no question about [competing with the likes of Apple]," he said with a smirk. "I said on stage that with our announcements, we are singling our intent to be today's leaders in smartphone design and craftsmanship."
And what of Plan B if Plan A isn't successful? Make sure Plan A is successful. To be honest, Nokia and Microsoft need to worry about Android, not Apple, as Google's OS is commanding a good chunk of the smartphone sector despite the iPhone's popularity. Why? Because it's installed on multiple phones and not just on a certain proprietary hardware set.
That said, let's see how the world's first "real" Windows Phone device, the Nokia Lumia 800, performs on the market this holiday season. Who wants to bet Microsoft is crossing its fingers and gritting its teeth?
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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soo-nah-mee I'd settle for a WP7 based tablet in the mean time.Reply
Not going to happen though.
The W8 tablets are going to be really nice I think. Hopefully Nokia can produce a good piece of hardware. -
reggieray If I were to be in the market for a tablet it sure as hell would not be a Windows based one.Reply -
soo-nah-mee Parsian"Nokia indicated that the Lumia experience will..."LMAO...require upfront cash payment and no kissing on the lips.Reply
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waethorn With their new tight partnership, Microsoft and Nokia can produce hardware and software synergy that others can't. In fact, I completely expect Microsoft to use Nokia to produce hardware designed so well for Windows, that they are used as a reference design that other hardware vendors should follow.Reply
What I'd really like to see is Microsoft (not Intel, like they tried to do several times, but failed miserably) to build reference PC designs in all-in-one, notebook, desktop, and tablet form factors that system builders could buy whitebox units for, and customize with certain options, but also be able to brand with their own company name. The big problem is that systems that system builders design and create are not pre-certifed for Windows as a complete box. All of the off-the-shelf components are, but when you build a system it's a different end-product so Microsoft requires the complete system to be separately WHQL-certified to carry the Windows logo. I think there should be "gold-certified" components that can be combined with other components of the same certification level that will create a fully-certified Windows logo PC without any additional compatibility testing. There also needs to be more shells for system form factors that typically don't lend themselves well to componentized systems, like tablets and all-in-ones. Intel started up a "Thin Mini ITX" specification for motherboards for insertion into several new all-in-one PC desktop shells, but they won't license the form factor to AMD (or VIA). Intel did the same thing with their VBI notebook shells, and continued with Spring Peak. Microsoft needs to better wrangle hardware vendors. -
tanjo New venture... their first tablet product would probably suck... unless they make a good WP7 phone and upsize it to a tablet.Reply -
cookoy The Lumia experience appearing on hundreds of millions of tablets and PCs is from the Windows Phone support on Windows 8. I don't read any specific mention about Nokia tablets or PCs in this.Reply
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cinergy Why would MS need to be afraid of whether lumia is successful or not? It's a great device and great devices sell. I understand Tom's hate for Nokia by the lead of Wolfgang "gangbang" Gruener but MS has nothing to worry. They have the most fresh looking OS, billions of $ for R&D and Nokia as a partner. Android is already old fashioned with its "Windows 95" style icons and boring UI. Even Symbian is catching Android.Reply