Nokia has reportedly resumed development of a 10-inch Windows RT tablet in cooperation with Microsoft, Qualcomm and Compal Electronics. A long time mobile phone market leader, Nokia seems to be pinning its hopes on the tablet, which it wishes would revive its fortunes.
The news was brought out by Chinese tech site DigiTimes which said Nokia will unveil the device at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Feb 2013. According to the market rumors, Nokia halted the development of the product after Microsoft debuted the Surface tablets as the Finnish handset maker wanted to see if there was a demand for these tablets.
"Nokia originally planned to develop a 10-inch Windows RT tablet equipped with Qualcomm's S4 processor in first-quarter 2012, with Compal to undertake ODM production and initial shipments of 200,000 units to test the market. But because Microsoft later announced Surface, and the market for Windows 8/RT tablets needed to be proven, Nokia internally focused on smartphones, and delayed the development of the 10-inch Windows RT tablet," the report said citing unnamed sources.
Given the fact that the Windows RT tablets have so far been short of expectations, Nokia is in the process of evaluating ordered volumes and is yet to decide on its marketing plans, sources said.
There is no concrete data on Surface sales as Microsoft has been tight-lipped on sales figures so far; however, market analysts strongly believe the sales have been weak. However, Surface tablet has been ranked the most popular Windows 8 RT device in an AdDuplex report.
Now the question is whether the financially floundering Nokia can bring out a better Windows tablet than Microsoft and if it does, will it help Nokia grab a significant share of the tablet market?
