Reports that Nokia will launch its first Windows based tablet at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress are just plain wrong, a leading analyst claims.
Neil Mawston, executive director at research firm Strategy Analytics’ global wireless practice, says checks of the supply chain for a Nokia tablet have yielded no results suggesting the reports of an imminent launch are true. Instead, Nokia will use the MWC event to showcase its expanding lineup of Windows Phone smartphones, Mawston predicts.
“Following extensive channel checks…, we understand Nokia will not unveil a tablet with a Microsoft operating system at this year’s Mobile World Congress,” Mawston states in a blog. “We believe Nokia’s strategy will be ‘smartphones first’.”
The rumor mill was stoked when Nokia displayed a tablet device during the launch of its Lumia 620 smartphone in Pakistan. The vendor subsequently scotched the rumors, claiming the unit pictured is simply a generic Windows tablet, and was one of several non-Nokia devices included in the presentation.