Nokia is currently looking into the idea of creating a Windows tablet, according to the company's CEO Stephen Elop.
There's no need to read between the lines here, either, as the man basically came right out and said it as he spoke to Australian reporters in Sydney.
According to the Financial Review, a tablet would be part of a multi-pronged strategy that sees Nokia diversify its product line-up.
"It is the case that in the months and years ahead, you will see us broaden out the portfolio, which means pushing to lower and lower price points, in some cases smaller form factors and so forth," said Elop.
"We haven't announced tablets at this point, but it is something we are clearly looking at very closely," he added. "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."
A couple of years ago, Nokia surprised many when it ditched its internally-developed Symbian operating system in favor of Microsoft's Windows OS, but would that relationship extend into tablets? Or would the company look into using Google's Android?
"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."
"But we have made no decision or announced nothing."
Still, it seems pretty clear that Nokia would probably continue tying itself to the Redmond-based giant. Last quarter, the company reported its first profit after six consecutive losing quarters, thanks in part to the success of its Windows-based Lumia phone.
Elop told reporters that he considered using Android for its phones two years ago, but he was worried the market couldn't support the number of companies jumping on the bandwagon. Two years later, he says, his theory has been proven accurate.
"If we look back two years to when we made the decisions, then Samsung was big, HTC was pretty big and Motorola was pretty big. Of course what has happened in the two years isthat Samsung has captured the lion's share of it and the others have been squeezed down to much smaller market share. We were worried about exactly that pattern forming."
