Nokia bounces back with launch of Android tablet

HELSINKI — Nokia is back in the fray.

Just months after selling its ailing handsets unit to Microsoft, the Finnish company is launching a tablet.

The new offering operates Android instead of the Windows software that Nokia adopted on its cellphones when it started a strategic partnership with Microsoft in 2011.

The 7.9-inch (20cm) N1 tablet has an aluminium body. It includes an Intel Corp. processor and the Lollipop version of Android. On top of that, it runs Nokia’s Z Launcher interface software, which predicts and highlights the apps consumers are likely to want based on time of day and location, according to a report by Bloomberg.
It will first be available in China in the first quarter of 2015 with an approximate price tag of US$250 (S$325), before being introduced to other markets.

Nokia N1's reveal video:

Mr Sebastian Nystrom from Nokia’s technologies unit said today (Nov 18) that the former global mobile phone leader was “pleased to bring the Nokia brand back into consumers’ hands.”

According to Bloomberg, Nokia shares rose 1.8 per cent to €6.32 (S$10.30) at 12:53 p.m. in Helsinki. The stock has gained 5.3 per cent this year, giving Nokia a market value of €23.6 billion.

Nokia’s earnings have improved since its US$7.2 billion sale of its handset unit to Microsoft. The slimmed-down company has three remaining operations: networks, mapping and software. AP, BLOOMBERG