The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

The Finnish phone giant is gearing up to enter the tablet race, looking to contend with the Apple iPad and other tech giants.

The Street: Nokia Aims a Tablet at Apple: Exclusive

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Nokia is out to prove again that it can be late, wrong and yet still willing to stick its neck out in areas where growth could be.

Nokia is working with suppliers and design manufacturers on a touch-screen tablet to have available as early as this fall, according to Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar, who is close to Nokia's technology partners. Nokia declined to comment.

The move, if true, would put Nokia head-to-head with tablet makers like Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Google and Dell, to name a few. The plunge into tablets would also mark yet another attempt by the top mobile phone maker to develop Internet devices for a market beyond cell phones.

"Nokia hasn't fielded any breakaway products in years," says Kumar. "This is a new window, and Nokia had better be at the starting gate if and when the product category takes off," Kumar added.

[..]

Nokia's tablet roots

Nokia, oddly, was a tablet pioneer in the early 2000s with its N770 handheld Internet device. The product failed to take off. Then last year, Nokia flopped in the netbook market with its Booklet 3G.

But this time around, Nokia has regrouped around a new operating system called MeeGo and a partnership with chip giant Intel.

"Getting a strong Intel backing here could be an important advantage," says MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen, who sees the Nokia tablet as part of an array of mobile computers.

Nokia, which has been watching Apple and Research In Motion (RIMM) run away with its smartphone business, can't afford to let this opportunity go by. Like the jump into netbooks with the Booklet, Nokia has shown a recent eagerness to respond to new markets. "I feel they have to do this, or risk falling behind in the category," says Kumar.

Pricing and timing are critical if Nokia has any hope for success in tablets.

Nokia needs to have a tablet ready for sale in time for the back-to-school computer buying surge and well before the holidays, says Kumar.

With Apple's iPad starting at $500, Nokia has to aim lower -- at what will likely be a moving target.

"The problem here is that the pricing of tablets is likely to drop at a furious pace over the next four quarters," says MKM's Kuittinen. "Nokia needs to get its products out fast and ramp up the production rapidly or it's going to be tough to play catch-up."

Nokia's challenge isn't just on the hardware front.

Apple's iPhone software runs the iPad, while Google's Android and Chrome operating systems will run new tablets from a host of big tech brands, and Microsoft is likely to put Windows 7 to work on its tablets. That leaves Nokia and its still-evolving MeeGo software as a distant and unknown contender.

Nokia faces long odds of finishing in the money in tablets, says Kumar.

"I'm not holding my breath on this one," Kumar said.

(Edited for brev.. sanity)

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Personally I feel that Nokia has made bigger (a lot bigger) mistakes than this potentially planned "tablet" idea, but...

if the device will be:

• Only ipad-sized model avilable (i.e. still no pocketable models) and - knowing Nokia - thicker
• Only uses Meego-partner Intel's x86 platform rather than ARM
• Priced similarly to N900 (i.e. higher than competing devices in the Android ecosystem)

then Nokia has more issues to deal with than simply being late to the market they actually helped create with Maemo and 770/N800/N810 a few years ago.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Thanks for putting the (almost) original text into you post.

There already are however posts about this tablet rumour.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone here. Meego will be a pretty decent solution for a tablet and I'm sure Nokia can gain some traction with something like this outside of the US. Meego would probably scale much better than the iPhone OS on the iPad with the ability to run full linux applications on top of a 100% finger friendly UI environment.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

I don't see anything in the rumor that says the tablet will actually be iPad sized. My feeling is that the iPad is too big, but I don't care whether I can actually pocket my tablet.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Well they were referring to an ipad competitor rather than iphone... indeed it doesn't sound very pocketable.

I feel that this ipad + imitation fad would leave room for smaller physical formats too, but maybe Apple + imitators know best what everybody/market wants?

Also this piece by The Street, with Finnish analyst's comments no less, wrote about Nokia's plans more as a fact rather than rumour.

Obviously I can't vouch for any of this, therefore my "if..." comments to it.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Personally I think tablet computers will prove to be a fad.

I had a samsung q1 years ago, but it fails to fall into a need catagory, only thing I found it really good for was watching movies on.....

Twelve months time and I bet there are a lot of tablets on ebay, from many different manufacturers.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

personally I hope they don't make it with intel atom chip.

If it was me I would use dual core arm cortex a-9 is possible.
if not single core arm coretx a-9.
if not then arm cortex a-8 running at 1ghz.
due to price restrcitions
prob around 8-10 inches with 960x540 resolution the absolute minimum. 1336x768 if possible.
capacitive multi touch
Running meego, and with full access to ovi store.

And for about 450 dollars if possible.

And then try to make the next meego phone with around the same specs this way dev know if it'll work on the slate it'll work on the meego phone.
except the phone will prob be 4.3 inches with 800x480 res.

A boy can dream can't he. lol

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

a) F YEAH! 'bout time, Nokia

b) They better get a f'n move on! The iPad is here, the 9-11" Android tablets are being announced and delivered in the next few months. Nokia should have been the FIRST player on this field (like they were with pocketable MIDs), and they had better not be the LAST.

c) I want:

• ARM, not Atom ... 1GHz is good.
• Meego/Maemo, not Windows 7 (if they did Atom), not Symbian.
• 1-2GB RAM
• at least 4GB storage ... though, 32GB, like the N900, would be sweet
• 3G option (and, having it be like the ICD Gemini, that can do SMS/MMS and Voice, would be cool)
• 10" 1024x600 or 1366x768 would be fine ... but 1280x720 would be ideal, to me.
• PixelQi display would be PERFECT.
• Must have both USB Host/OTG ports for keyboard/mouse/storage/etc ... AND USB client for charging/syncing/etc.
• DVI-I out would be preferred, but HDMI out would be ok.
• Portrait and Landscape mode virtual keyboard ... with Swype support
• Generic open ePUB reader would be great.... and so would a "Kindle for MeeGo" app.
• Amazon MP3 store support.

I could probably come up with more items later... but that's a good start.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

I saw something earlier that seemed to indicate one of the upcoming tablets will have both capacitive multi-touch and resistive stylus support. Not sure which one it was, though ... but that would be awesome.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

A x86 processor is quite fine if it means we trade battery life for more horsepower but that should be the only reason for compromise. Hopefully they can have two models and let market forces choose.

Well Nokia has been doing this while Apple was making pink computers, it isn't surprise. They have to reapproach this from a consumers point of view. A tablet is nothing without purpose ... it has to be a purpose built device. The iPad is going for the a lot of purposes, but ultimately it is a internet device, everything else kind of reinforces that purpose. Nokia it is sad to say, but as much as people rank battery life high, it isn't what sells. So make these devices thin and light. Lastly throw your industrial weight behind the effort and make several different models, this is a market where the consumer would buy if they had more options and choice even within the same companies product line. Lastly don't launch without having core services (cloud based or otherwise) that is ready ... really it sucks having a product that isn't feature complete yet like a front camera that isn't support by your apps yets :( .

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

The problem with mobile devices like tablets as Apple is targeting them, is that you expect to be able to go a day at least without needing to charge.

No Atom chip can achieve this without sparing usage (and not at all with video,) and if you need horsepower you might as well bring along an actual laptop.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

If the Atom had provably more horsepower than the better ARM processors ... maybe. Assuming the battery life was still at least 6-8+ hours (reliably, under full work load ... and to compete with the iPad, you'll need AT LEAST 10 hours). But, in cases of comparable product, the ARM cpus seem both faster AND less power hungry than the Atoms... so the trade off is not "horsepower vs battery life". As far as I've seen, ARM wins for both.

Instead, the tradeoff seems, to me, to be "do we want general x86 compatibility" (even just within Linux). I don't care about that, so I don't find that to be an acceptable trade.

Though, if you're talking about non-Atom x86 CPU's... good luck getting 10+ hours of battery life in a tablet that's comparable to the iPad, using something that has better than Atom horsepower.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

I think the 2 keys to tablet computing that are still not within Nokia's grasp:

1. A good UI/UX
2. Content

I'm hoping they'll get those ready for MeeGo.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Alot of what you said I would go for also, except if they put tv out it'll def be hdmi.
Maybe it's just me but I don't want 3g. If worse comes to worse I can always tether with my cell phone.
Pixel Qi display would be nice also.
And for software to run on both meego tablet and meego phones.
and how about this, have it be compatible with ovi maps and have free turn by turn nav.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Exactly I dont want 3G in the tablet also - since I can tether with my N900.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

I didn't say I wanted it soldered onto the motherboard, I said I wanted a 3G _option_.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

We've certainly been expecting a MeeGo tablet (and surely it will be MeeGo, unless Nokia has completely given up on their ability to create software). But the recent release of the iPad does give me opportunity to reflect. Nokia will have their work cut out for them. Apple appears to be poised to make the iPad a compelling media-consumption solution for e-books, video, music, web browsing, and games -- all categories that can catch the consumer's fancy. Can a MeeGo tablet compete on any of those fronts? If not, upon what fronts (besides geekiness :) )? Still, if they can interface with Amazon, that could go a long way.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

I'm mostly with you on that list, but the screens... :mad:


I'm running 1024x600 on a 9" netbook and staring at big square pixels wishing they were more and smaller. 1024x600 on 10" on my buddy's netbook is even worse. The one good argument against 9" netbooks (and smaller ones, if there were any that aren't just smaller screens in a 9" chassis) is the keyboard -- since onscreen keyboards can have less commonly used characters on other pages, that no longer applies, and we can/should see smaller as well as higher resolution screens.

1366x768 in 9 inches -- that's starting to be a screen (bonus points for fitting 720p content at native resolution, with subtitles below!), but I'd really rather 1280x720 (or better yet, 1280x800) in an 8" screen. Especially if it's PixelQi.

(Yes, I do understand that yield goes down/defects go up both with pixel density and with square inches of glass, so I'm not denying there's some technical challenge here. But what I'm asking is not at all unreasonable...)

Agree on the 3G option -- I probably would skip it, since I can tether to N900, but that means more market success and also leaves room and connections inside for some classic EeePC hacks -- at the very least we can add a 64GB Rally2 or so...

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Let me throw my 2 cents into the pot... What I would be happy to see from Nokia:

1. 1280*720 screen, HDMI out
2. ARM and MeeGo
3. Possibly e-Ink/PixelQi display
4. A good resistive screen and good writing recognition

If they do this, they'll provide a serious open OS, good entertainment value with real HD video, a display people would actually want to read books on, and last but not least, a tablet on which you can take notes and create content, instead of only consuming. I believe this formula would be a winner in the longer term.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Productivity apps, Content creation, Business apps. Those are also apps that are suitable to be implemented with a 'more accurate' (smaller contact area) resistive screen with a stylus.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

I want TI's Omap4 SoC.

oh, and a six inch screen with a 960x540 resolution.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

7 inch would be better with 1024x600

if the ti omap is the same arm cortex a-9 then I agree. Dual core would be better.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

1024x600 is a good minimum desktop resolution, but it is rubbish for media.
960x540 is key to Apples iFrame, will probably be used in the next iPhone, as is exactly one quarter of full-HD.

yes, Omap4 uses two Arm Cortex A9 cpu's

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

How is 960x540 better than 1024x600 or am I reading something wrong.

Either way nokia needs to come out with something very good and very soon and very cheap to compete with the ipad.

If not the ipad will monopolize the market like they did with the ipod.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

While Nokia drastically needs 1. I think they're working on the 2nd. If QT compatibility works like it's suppose too then theoretically you could start and run an app using the same QT libraries from any other system using those same QT libraries (QT apps from the desktop/laptop, QT apps from Maemo, QT apps from Meego, QT apps from Symbian, etc.)

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Yes, apps are one thing. I believe the major moves that Nokia has pulled (QT, opensourcing symbian, alliance with intel) are definitely the steps in the right direction; but it seems to me that true positive effects won't be seen for at least another year.

But there are kinds of contents out there that helps to sell handheld devices: ebooks, music, movies & tv content, etc... let's see how Nokia address those.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

couldn't they partner up with amazon for ebooks/magazines. the music i guess they could do nokia music, or amazon music also.
and content wise if it shipped with free ovi maps it would help sell some tablets.

just ensure that most if not all meego apps work with it and it'll be a start.

edit, make sure it ships with a browser that has working flash and works with hulu and use that as an advantage over the ipad

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

None of this wishful thinking is worth a glowing green amorphous flying snot if Nokia doesn't provide support (parts, service contracts, ON-SITE SERVICE or at LEAST Nokia branded service kiosks all over the countries where they sell it, etc). It'll be yet another 'step 1' device trying to play the beta to a far-flung final product yet again whereas a lot of Nokia's competitors aren't playing this 'step 1' device shuffle-dance around bothering to support customers and truly push a product and still manage to stay well ahead of Nokia in terms of getting their stuff out there, used and PURCHASED.

Hell.. people are STILL complaining about stylus availability, for crying out loud. Heheh

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Good point. I would certainly want to be taking hand written notes and doing occasional word processing and spreadsheet work. Although it remains to be seen how well this will work with that form factor plus an onscreen keyboard (or plus an external keyboard, for that matter, although I'd rather not get one if I don't have to).

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

that resolution is exactly one quarter of full HD, which makes interpolation of video much cleaner and more defined that would be possible when displaying it at 1024x600.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

No it doesn't. I bet you could not tell difference between 1024x600 and 950x540 if the screen size was the same. Well, if you have some test pattern with exactly 2 pixel wide lines in original material, then your approach would probably lead to better results. But if you watch something else than test charts, difference won't be visible. In normal use, more pixels would be better so I would take 1024x600 over 950x540 any day.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

well, we disagree. :)

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

They're also areas where the iPad ecosystem is easy to beat given the horrific state of any real work with documents on that tablet.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

And while Nokia may be planning to follow Apple's ipad footsteps (format-wise), now there are rumours that Apple may be planning to "invent" portable or pocketable 5-7" tablets next!

Digitimes/Liliputing:: Apple may be working on a smaller iPad

Thinking about picking up an iPad, but put off by its 1.5 pound weight and large 9.7 inch display? It looks like you might have a chance soon. DigiTimes reports that Apple may be working on a 5 to 7 inch model that will cost around $400 or less.

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard over the last few days is that at 1.5 pounds, the iPad is a bit heavy to hold in your hands for an extended period. Sure, 1.5 pounds is light be netbook standards, with most mini-laptops weighing 2.4 pounds or more. But the difference is that netbooks are designed to be placed on a lap, desk, or table. The iPad works best while you’re holding it. [..]

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

Might be true, but it's worth noting that Digitimes "invented" new way to create news by mixing fairy dust with random word generator.

Re: The Street: Nokia planning a tablet / ipad competitor
 

That's why it will be interesting to see if the technology media takes the bite and starts believing in the pocketable tablet format...

Consumers really are suckers for media-massaged perceptions.

Of course none of that means that Nokia would be on the ball ready to capitalize (pardon the verb) on pocketable tablets despite having actually created the market.