Nokia Talks Tablets, Considering Both 7-Inch And 10-Inch Form Factors

Nokia may not be totally out of the woods yet as far as its core business of smartphones is concerned but the company is showing definite signs of improvement with each passing quarter.

But it has been nearly two years since the titan from Finland promised to deliver special tablets that were meant to take the fight to slate makers like Apple, Amazon, Asustek, Google and Samsung. But that is not stopping Nokia from talking about its tablet plans for the near future.

In fact, Stephen Elop, the chief executive officer of Nokia recently discussed things at a press conference in Australia, without revealing too many details, however. According to a report on the Financial Review website:

“We have not announced tablets at this point, but it is something we are clearly looking at very closely. We are studying very closely the market right now as Microsoft has introduced the Surface tablet, so we are trying to learn from that and understand what the right way to participate would be and at what point in time.”

Still, things today are about as different as night and day from three years back, the as far as the tablet market is concerned. Companies were setting up the board back then, Apple was testing the waters with the original iPad, and the frontier was open for exploration.

Now, however, Nokia will have keep in mind several factors — the display size and form factor, the three distinct mobile operating systems, the myriad of chips with varying performance numbers.

And as far as the choice of software goes, Nokia has the option of choosing either Android or Microsoft’s new Windows platform for its tablets. Choosing the Windows route obviously provides cross-platform compatibility with the company’s current line of smartphones. As Elop continued:

“We would consider any option [Android or Windows]… It is important to note that the opportunity for companionship is something that any user is looking for. So, when you think about the Lumia 920, running on Windows Phone, having a Windows tablet or PC or Xbox is something that will give us the opportunity to have a pretty integrated experience. Our first focus on what we look at is clearly in the Microsoft side.”

Rumors are definitely growing that Nokia will finally debut its first media tablet in 2013. Just how comparable, or different, a Lumia slate is to Microsoft Surface (or specifically, Surface RT) may very well define the path Nokia’s tablet story takes.