Nokia has taken everyone by surprise with its newest piece of hardware. The company has launched an all new 7.9-inch tablet dubbed N1 that runs the Android Lollipop OS. Priced at $250 plus taxes, it is expected to hit the Chinese market next year in February, followed by Russia.
Nokia’s new brand-licensed tablet computer is designed to rival Apple’s iPad Mini, just six months after the company sold its ailing phones and devices business to Microsoft for over $7 billion, Reuters said.
Nokia said the manufacturing, distribution and sales of the new N1 tablet, will be handled under license by Taiwan’s Foxconn.
The aluminum-cased N1 runs on Google’s Android Lollipop operating software, said Sebastian Nystrom, the head of products at Nokia’s Technologies unit. The company was looking to follow up with more devices and will also look into eventually returning to the smartphones business by brand-licensing.
Microsoft last week dropped the Nokia name on its latest Lumia 535 smartphone, which runs on its Windows Phone 8 operating system, but still uses the brand for more basic phones.
After the Microsoft sale Nokia was left with its core network equipment and services business plus its smaller HERE mapping and navigation unit and Nokia Technologies, which manages the licensing of its portfolio of patents and develops new products such as the N1 and the Z Launcher.
Asked about rumors that Nokia was looking to re-enter the handset market, chief executive Rajeev Suri said last week he was looking into ways to bring the brand back into the consumer market through licensing deals.
