The former handset maker has now unveiled a new product that will run on Google’s mobile software.
Nokia has announced its official return to tablet commerce with the unveiling of a mobile device that will be running on the Android operating system, and will mark a return of the former smartphone manufacturer into the world of hardware.
This unveiling of the Nokia tablet came only a few short months after Microsoft purchased its handset business.
This new addition to the tablet commerce marketplace will be called the N1 and will be using Nokia’s own software on top of Android. This, according to the Nokia head of products, Sebastian Nystrom, who spoke in Helsinki at the Slush technology conference. The device will sell for $249 and will be both made and sold by the Foxconn Technology Group. The first release of the tablet will be in China, during the first quarter of next year, but Nokia expects that the N1 will become available in other markets not long afterward.
This entry into tablet commerce is just the latest in a number of sharp turns the company has taken.
Nokia has been around for 149 years and has managed to keep itself alive through its willingness to transform itself while hopping from one industry to the next, as necessary. Rajeev Suri has been its CEO since May and was behind the sale of the company’s mobile phone unit – which was bleeding money – to Microsoft, for around $7.5 billion. Suri is now stepping out from the wireless network equipment field, which currently makes up about 90 percent of the sales of this Finland based company.
Nystrom explained that “We wanted to start with something small that caters to our fans,” adding that “There is room for better products out there.”
In response to this announcement, the shares at Nokia rose immediately by 1.5 percent to reach 6.31 euros. The stock rose by 7.7 percent this year, already, giving a market value to the company of 23.6 billion euros ($30 billion). It will be interesting to watch the interest generated in the new tablet commerce offerings at Nokia once the product is available for purchase.
The company has announced its intentions to combine its service expertise with location based tech.
Nokia has now announced that bringing its existing services expertise with the latest in 3D geolocation technology will bring the company the capability for offering profound insight into the performance and traffic trends being experienced over mobile networks.
This move will be the outcome of a number of different acquisitions that Nokia has recently made.
Over the last few months, Nokia Corporation has absorbed a number of different companies, among which the most recent was the 3D geolocation technology company called Nice Systems Ltd. That business provides surveillance and security and is based in Israel. Nokia, based in Finland, has stated that this acquisition would help them to better the optimization and planning of mobile networks.
The purchase of the 3D geolocation technology could also help to enhance the tools and expertise of Nokia Networks.
By obtaining this location based technology, the company feels that its Nokia Networks business will be able to build on its technical expertise and tools as well as to dive much more deeply into the development of capabilities within that ecosystem.
According to the Nokia Networks head of network planning and optimization of global services, Dennis Lorenzin, “Advanced network planning and optimization services are at the forefront of Nokia Networks’ strategic services to mobile operators. The evolution of small cells and LTE necessitates more accurate 3D geolocation capabilities. Nokia Networks intends to enhance this unique solution in order to offer superior services to our customers, regardless of which network gear they use.
Dror Nemirovsky, the head of ecosystem venture at Nokia Networks, explained that the company intends to create an Israeli competence center and will further grow its future portfolio based on 3D modeling while it boosts its automation services.
Recently, the Finnish company also took in SAC wireless, which was a network deployment and infrastructure solutions provider based in the U.S. This move was made to help to enhance Nokia Networks’ market share within the network implementation space. It was meant as a complement to the company’s existing expertise held in-house.
