Report: Nokia to release Windows tablet in June 2012

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) intends to release a tablet next summer running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 8 software, a Nokia executive said.

In an interview with the French newspaper Les Echos, Paul Amsellem, the head of Nokia France said that "in June 2012, we will have a tablet running Windows 8." He did not elaborate and the report did not provide more information on the tablet. A Nokia spokesman told Reuters that the company has "not announced any specific plans as it relates to tablets."

Nokia has been relatively mum on its plans to enter the tablet market. In April, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said Nokia was not going to rush a tablet to market just to join in the device cavalcade, and would instead focus on ensuring that the device has a "uniquely Nokia perspective."

In the interview, Amsellem talked about Nokia's push for smartphone customers in France, where 60 percent of the market currently does not have a smartphone. He said that demographic will be Nokia's target. "We will soon have a full range with a Series 7 and Series 3," he said, indicating that Nokia will broaden its portfolio at both the high-end and low-end. 

Nokia's first Windows Phone devices are going on sale this month in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. Nokia will release a portfolio of devices for the U.S. market in early 2012. 

For more:
- see this Les Echos article (translated via Google Translate)
- see this Reuters article
- see this The Verge article

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