Late this week, we reported on a rumor sparked by the appearance of an image at the unveiling of the Nokia Lumia 620 in Pakistan. The slide-show image at the unveiling appeared to show a Nokia Lumia phone on the left, a Windows 8 PC on the right, and in between a mid-sized tablet with Lumia-like beveling and body color.
Add to that the fact that Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, has hinted at an interest in creating a Nokia tablet, and many were wondering if there was a possibility of seeing a new tablet at this year's Mobile World Congress which starts in Barcelona, Spain on February 25.
However, according to a report by research firm Strategy Analytics, via Android Authority, this won't be happening. The industry research firm said yesterday in a release, "Following extensive channel checks by our Tablet & Touchscreen Strategies service, we understand Nokia will not unveil a tablet with a Microsoft operating system at this year's Mobile World Congress." The firm believes Nokia will focus on "smartphones first" at this year's MWC, adding, "Tablet fans will need to be a little more patient!"
This of course indicates that Nokia may eventually end up producing a tablet line, but don't expect it in time for the end of this month. However, there's always a possibility for an announcement during the MWC, so we'll keep our eyes and ears pealed for such an occasion.
Previously in an interview with Australian Financial Review, Stephen Elop, the head of the Finnish phone maker, sparked tablet-lovers' interests, saying:
"We haven't announced tablets at this point, but it is something we are clearly looking at very closely. 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..."
He also mentioned that Nokia sees potential in both 7-inch and 10-inch tablet designs.