Nokia has always maintained that it will enter the tablet market only if it can bring something truly innovative to the table. The same message has been reiterated by the company’s CEO Stephen Elop at least twice this week at two different technology conferences held in Southern California. Prior to a conference held in Palos Verdes, California, Elop said that if Nokia makes an entry into the tablet market, their device will have to be a unique Nokia design.
He mentioned the presence of 200 tablets in the segment and said that the company doesn’t want to be just #201 in a market with virtually no product differentiation. Even as he didn’t dismiss the possibility of a Windows based tablet in the future, Elop did not accept the idea either. However, this statement took place before the announcement of a number of Windows 8 based tablet-prototypes and the subsequent unveiling at Computex in Taiwan.
According to Elop, the tablet released by Nokia shouldn’t be such that it gets lost in the crowd of already existing devices in the market. Rather, he wants the company to introduce something groundbreaking and unique to the market. He said that the engineers at the Finnish mobile phone makers were working hard in the development of a product that will be very different from everything else available in the market. He acknowledged that the company could use the technology and software from Microsoft and build a Windows based tablet, or, he said, they may even go with some of the other software assets that the company has.
Elop then travelled to San Diego to attend another conference sponsored by Qualcomm. Nokia will be using processors manufactured by Qualcomm as a part of its strategy concerning Windows Phone 7, as Microsoft itself has mandated the use of the specific chipset. Elop announced there that apart from standing out of the crowd, the Nokia offering will also need to be financially viable for the company.
Most major computer and smartphone manufacturers have already announced their strategies and plans concerning tablets. Companies such as Dell, Apple, Toshiba, HP, Motorola, LG, HTC and Samsung have now started to come out with their own devices and plans; however, the iPad is the only tablet to be driving the market at the moment. An interesting option for Nokia will be a Windows 8 tablet made by the company as it will bring together Nokia’s hardware prowess and Microsoft’s newest OS offering.
