Nokia promises tablets

Nokia is set to launch a range of tablets as it looks to accelerate its financial recovery and regain its standing against rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

Nokia

Outgoing chairman Jorma Ollila told the Financial Times Nokia had been “too slow” at the start of the smartphone revolution but added it could bounce back from its recent profit slides with a range of new devices.

He says: “Tablets are an important one, so that is being looked into, and there will be hybrids, different form factors in the future.”

Global tablet shipments are forecast to grow 47.5% year-on-year to 21.8 million units this quarter, with Apple’s iPad continuing to dominate the market, according to a report from Digitimes.

Samsung overtook Nokia last month to become the world’s largest phone maker, exacerbating the Finnish company’s decline since the launch of the first mass market smartphone, the iPhone, in 2007. Its credit rating was cut to “junk” status by agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor’s last month.

Nokia has also been pinning its turnaround on its Lumia range of smartphones, although sales of the devices so far have failed to dent rivals Samsung and Apple’s market share.

Ollila says he is “happy” with Nokia’s decision last year to form an allegiance with Microsoft to co-develop a range of Windows phones but says its “strong competitors” will mean any impact will take time.

He adds that Nokia’s brand “has taken a few knocks” in recent years, amid heightened competition, but says it has not been irreversibly damaged.

“It was always a brand of quality for a number of different segments, and I think that’s the key [for] the future.

“This is about making sure you can build in a comeback, or a recovery, after a miss. The strong ones are separated from the weak ones in how they work through these cycles and demonstrate that they can come back,” he adds.

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