Telecom Lead India: Mobile major Nokia is planning to
enter in the tablet market, in order to further strengthen its market share and
to compete with other leading manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung.
In a recently given interview, Nokia design Chief
Marko Ahtisaari said that he is spending a third of his time on creating a
tablet for the cell phone maker, which would stand out among hundreds of
iPad-challengers.
“We continue to eye the tablet space with interest,
but have made no specific announcements,” said a company spokesman.
Nokia is widely expected to launch an own tablet using
Microsoft’s Windows 8 software later this year. Nokia Windows 8 tablet is
expected to come with a 10-inch screen, dual-core Qualcomm processor.
There were media reports about Google launching its
tablet as well.
Nokia’s Chief Executive Stephen Elop has said
the category is interesting for the Finnish company, but has stressed the need
for a different approach to numerous rivals trying to battle against the
dominance of Apple’s iPad.
Last year, the company scrapped its Symbian portfolio and
associated with Microsoft to curb its declining smartphone market share. It
launched its Lumia portfolio based on Microsoft’s Mango OS.
In 2011, Nokia announced the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia
Lumia 710, the first two Nokia smartphones based on Windows Phone.
This year, the company expanded its Lumia portfolio with
Lumia 900 and Lumia 610 models.
The Lumia range is designed to bring consumers attractive
industrial design, a fast social and Internet experience, leading imaging
capabilities as well as signature Nokia experiences optimized for Windows
Phone, such as Nokia Drive and Mix Radio.
Recently, Microsoft paid $250 million to Nokia towards the first quarterly platform
support payment.
According to IDC, Apple
is leading the current tablet market with 54.7 percent market share in Q411.
Amazon shipped 4.7 million Kindle Fires into the market.
Amazon’s shipment put the company in second place with 16.8 percent of the
worldwide tablet market.
Third-place Samsung grew its share from 5.5 percent in Q3
to 5.8 percent in Q4 2011. Despite shipping more units, including its new Nook
Tablet, Barnes & Noble saw its market share slip to 3.5 percent (down from
4.5 percent). Pandigital rounded out the top five, grabbing 2.5 percent of the
market, down from 2.9 percent the previous quarter.
Blackberry’s market share decreased from 1.1 percent to
0.7 percent. WebOS, which owned 5 percent of the worldwide market in Q3 2011,
dropped to zero in Q4 2011.
Danish Khan
[email protected]
