Nokia exec: Windows 8 tablet due in June

The Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone-powered device

Nokia will add a Windows 8 tablet to its product line in June 2012, a French newspaper reported in an interview with the head of Nokia in France.

"In June 2012, we will have a tablet running Windows 8," Paul Amsellem told Les Echos in a story published yesterday.

Such a move would make some sense. Where Android and iOS span phones and tablets, Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system doesn't. But ignoring the tablet market would shut Nokia out of a major growth industry, and Microsoft is the obvious partner, even if it means Nokia must wrestle with the complexities of having two major operating systems.

Reached for comment today, Nokia spokesman wouldn't confirm or deny Amsellem's statement, but did say, "We have not announced any plans relating to tablets."

Last month, Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop wouldn't comment on Windows 8 tablet plans, but he left the door wide open when discussing earnings results with analysts.

"From an ecosystem perspective, there are beneftis and synergies that exist between Windows and Windows Phone," Elop said. "We see that opportunity. We'll certainly consider those opportunities going forward."

And in a later interview with the Financial Times, he pointed more specifically to the similarities in user interface between Nokia's newly launched Lumia line of Windows Phone products and the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.

Nokia has services it could bring to a Windows tablet, of course. But the synergies aren't always easy: Programs written for one operating system don't run on the other, so spanning the two devices means a lot of work for app developers.

Amsellem likened the new Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone to a BMW, saying that higher-end and lower-end models will arrive soon. Nokia already showed off the lower-end Lumia 710, and at Nokia World said higher-end models would arrive as well, but it's not shared details so far.

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Nokia unveils its first Windows smartphones.

Nokia's Smartphones for Windows

LONDON (Reuters) - Nokia on Wednesday unveiled its first smartphone using the operating system from Microsoft, the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones hoping to get back into the race with Apple and Google. The two new smartphones, one analyst said they did nothing special, on sale in major European markets for the period of Christmas and are a first step in the Finnish giant's strategy to renew with success. 

The top model Lumia 800, including easy access to social networks like Facebook and video playback in high definition, will be offered at a price of 420 euros excluding promotional premiums, down to the Apple iPhone but above the prices of many devices with Google's Android system. It also includes the full version and free navigation system highly anticipated Windows users.

The basic version, the Lumia 710, 270 euros will be sold. "These handsets are a good start, but in reality they are only fairly basic products using Windows Mobile," said Ben Wood, research director of CCS Insight, a British firm of consultants specializing in telecommunications. "This is a positive development but the recovery of this lucrative market in which Apple and Android are securely installed is a Herculean task," he warns

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Nokia, Apple and Google have overtaken the growing market for smartphones, has decided to abandon its platform in favor of the aging Symbian operating system from Microsoft, a risky initiative that had frightened investors in February.