According to various execs, Nokia has been exploring ways of how they could enter the tablet market for a long time. The problem was finding a differentiated way to do that, instead of releasing just another good looking slab with big touchscreen. So far Nokia didn’t succeed and we are still waiting for the first Lumia tablet.
But today we’ve got a glimpse at Nokia’s first efforts to do something different in the tablet space. It comes in the form of a patent application called “Apparatus Cover with Keyboard” and describes the mechanical keyboard/cover integrated into a tablet device. The cover can fold in multiple ways, based on different user needs at the time:
The patent application was filed way back in October 2011, a bit more than half a year after Nokia abandoned its Meego efforts. So it probably wasn’t conceived as a Windows RT device. And, frankly, all those different ways of folding the cover, looks way to complicated to me.
But this is what Nokia was working on before we ever heard about Microsoft Surface. They’ve had quite a few interesting ideas here, and they’ve now had 18 more months to work on it. I don’t think Nokia stopped looking at tablets in the meantime. So, if they finally manage to get Lumia Windows Phones off the ground this year, Lumia tablet may not be far behind.
Also, Nokia must have been filing for patents for its various tablet designs/ideas. Soon all these applications from late 2011 onwards will be made public in various IP databases around the world. And we’ll be watching to see what else Nokia has in the works.
source:.unwiredview
