After departing Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila said that Nokia is looking into tablets and hybrid devices, the market began speculating whether Nokia Windows 8 tablets and hybrids are on their way. However, a Nokia spokesperson said the market has misconstrued the comment and the company is only watching the market with interest. Ollila didn't say when the devices would release, but Nokia's partnership with Microsoft could point towards a launch alongside Windows 8, the spokesperson said.
"Tablet are an important one, so that is being looked into, and there will be different hybrids, different form factors," Ollila said to the Financial Times in an interview. The Nokia spokesperson later clarified the statement.
"What Mr Ollila said has been misconstrued a bit ... As we have been saying, we are watching the space with interest, but have made no announcements regarding a tablet product," Keith Nowak told eWEEK.
Forty percent of analysts in a poll rated Ollila's tenure "poor" or "unacceptable," despite his run as CEO from 1992-2006, which transformed Nokia into the number one smartphone maker in the world.
Nokia began selling the Lumia 900 on April 8 for AT&T, while it launched the Lumia 700 and 800 from November 2011 in Europe. During April, Nokia warned investors of disappointing Q1 financial results. On April 19, a net sales decrease of 29 percent year-over-year was announced along with a net loss of approximately U.S.$2 billion.
During the earnings call which revealed the figures, Nokia said it has upped the growth momentum of the company.
"We are establishing a clear sense of urgency and increase in the clock speed of our company. Last week's news highlights that there is still a lot of improvements ahead so that we can lead and not react to the competitive dynamics in the market. In totality, the intent of the strategy is to reaffirm Nokia's position of strength in the mobile industry ..." Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said.
