Nokia eyes up notebook biz

Mobiles and laptops to converge, says company chief

Nokia’s Chief Executive has confirmed that the firm’s considering a move into the laptop market.

According to several online reports, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told Finnish broadcaster YLE that the company is “looking very actively... at this opportunity” to make Nokia-branded laptops.

The announcement is exciting, but not entirely surprising, as the mobile phone and laptop markets have been on obvious converging routes for some years now.

Kallasvuo confirmed this by adding that individual devices which we currently identify as either a laptop or mobile phone will, within five years, become a converged device.

It’s worth noting that companies with fingers in both the PC and mobile phone markets already exist, such as Acer and Asus, both strong laptop players but weak in the phone market.

Nokia’s recent decision to launch a USB HSDPA 3G laptop dongle may also be an early indication of its plans to develop branded laptops. ®