Nokia enters the Tablet market

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

You misunderstood me.

My point is that technical improvements, meaningful or not, can't convince people to buy if their needs are already met. Benefits, not features, is what sells. Old saw from the PC world.
Look to 3D TVs and 4K TVs, for starters.
Techies drool but the market shrugs.

Foxconn could deliver a 10 GHz tablet with 1GB hard drive and a holographic display for $499 and the people who use their tablets for email and websurfing who say "cool" and keep on keeping on.

I submit that offering say... half a terabyte or two terabytes of memory is doable, and would drive another round of people upgrading earlier models. Processing power and graphics may be to the point where people have a hard time justifying a new machine but internal memory and removable storage is still way below what current manufacturing capacity could put out.

[fozzedout]

Agreed, plus battery life.

If someone, anyone, came out with a tablet (or phone) that only needed charging once a week after heavy usage, I would be in "shut up and take my money" mode.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I submit that offering say... half a terabyte or two terabytes of memory is doable, and would drive another round of people upgrading earlier models. Processing power and graphics may be to the point where people have a hard time justifying a new machine but internal memory and removable storage is still way below what current manufacturing capacity could put out.

Another round of people are going to upgrade only because there is more storage internally? There is nothing useful about internal storage that a cloud couldn't handle. At least not in a handheld device anyway.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Another round of people are going to upgrade only because there is more storage internally? There is nothing useful about internal storage that a cloud couldn't handle. At least not in a handheld device anyway.

Online storage schemes only appeal to people with continuous access to cheap bandwidth. And even then, only to those inexperienced enough not to have been burned or known people who got burned by previous offsite storage schemes.

People who watch a lot of movies will buy higher storage capacity devices if they travel much. Or if they live in small towns.

The first week in January I will be staying in a cabin out by a rural lake. There is no data coverage out there.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by RZetlin

In my opinion Nokia is about 3 years too late to the tablet market. The tablet market is already over saturated.

I just don't see how Nokia is going to get any real traction.

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Nokia entered the tablet market in 2005. I do not see how that is 3 years too late, given that Apple did not enter it until 2010.

As far as most people are concerned, the "tablet" market means something different after Apple pushed out their iPads. Before that "tablet" was a squishy non-definition in practice.

Originally Posted by Phogg

Online storage schemes only appeal to people with continuous access to cheap bandwidth. And even then, only to those inexperienced enough not to have been burned or known people who got burned by previous offsite storage schemes.

As an IT professional I make use of both cloud solutions and local solutions, in tandem. Brass tacks, you aren't covered unless you have both on-site and off-site backups to account for most of the disasters and circumstances that may occur. Cloud storage is highly valuable as a component of this reality.

[xendula]

I am planning on getting one, especially because of the aluminum back and 3:4 aspect ratio.

I have been dreaming about a Nokia Android tablet forever. I still have the awesome N800 internet tablet, which was eons ahead of its time in 2006/7? I remember how excited I was that I could sit in Panera and SKYPE with people overseas, from such a tiny device.

They made awesome hardware back in the days, and always pushing the envelope on new design factors. Do you guys remember their Communicators?

For me, Symbian is what made me lose interest in Nokia eventually. My last Nokia cell was the N-gage that everyone was making fun of: even though it did more than most cells at the time.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I understand that, but to say this is Foxconn product -- in this case -- is simply not true.

If you buy this product, you are not paying Nokia...you are paying Foxconn. If you need service on this product, you will not be working with Nokia but Foxconn. This is Foxconn's product in a way that iPad's aren't.

However, certainly it has the potential to be as well built as any iPad given that it's the same manufacturer.

Designed by Nokia is no small thing. Or rather, it didn't used to be. I'm saddened that the best this new Nokia could come up with is an iPad mini clone. The N8, the Lumia and even the windows tablets Nokia had previously put out -- all had great and original industrial design. They proved that "glass slab" did not HAVE to be reduced to "looks exactly like an iPhone".

Alas, I would bet money that Foxconn requested an iPad mini clone.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by leebase

If you buy this product, you are not paying Nokia...you are paying Foxconn.

You're paying Foxconn AND Nokia. And you're also bolstering the Nokia brand. Besides that, the specs look good for a $250 tablet. I'm not really a "tablet person" but this is the fist one that has really grabbed my attention in a long while.

BTW, I think Foxconn is involved in most tablets (to one extent or another). There's almost no tablet you could buy where you wouldn't be paying Foxconn something.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by rcentros

You're paying Foxconn AND Nokia. And you're also bolstering the Nokia brand. Besides that, the specs look good for a $250 tablet. I'm not really a "tablet person" but this is the fist one that has really grabbed my attention in a long while.

BTW, I think Foxconn is involved in most tablets (to one extent or another). There's almost no tablet you could buy where you wouldn't be paying Foxconn something.

Nokia was a supplier to Foxconn...just like Qualcomm, Samsung and Foxconn are suppliers to Apple.

This is Nokia renting out their name and performing contract design. This is NOT a Nokia product. Nokia isn't going to stand behind it. Nokia has nothing to do with the warranty. Nokia has nothing to do with whether it's manufactured with quality. Nokia has nothing to do with software compatibility, regular OS updates.

Buy this product and you are dealing solely with Foxconn. Foxconn makes a lot of people's products, including Apple's iPhone. There is no reason to think this won't be a quality product. But this is Foxconn. Not Nokia.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by leebase

Nokia was a supplier to Foxconn...just like Qualcomm, Samsung and Foxconn are suppliers to Apple.

This is Nokia renting out their name and performing contract design. This is NOT a Nokia product.

Nope. Not according to what Nokia says, nor what the analysts write. This is definitely a Nokia product -- first in a line of new Nokia products that Nokia will use in their bid to re-enter the market. Smartphones will be coming in 2016.

I'll requote the following ...

IHS analyst Fogg notes, “For Nokia, the advantages of licensing are considerable. Nokia can enter the mobile device market without needing to worry about manufacturing, supply chain management, stock control or hardware distribution. And, by selling its former devices unit to Microsoft, Nokia has freed itself from historic baggage, restructuring costs, and can start afresh.”

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/surpris...ndroid-tablet/

And I have no clue what you mean when you write that Nokia is "supplier to Foxconn," unless you meant to turn that around.

You'll also note that you do not go to Foxconn to get information about the Nokia N1, you go to Nokia's site.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'll requote the following ...

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/surpris...ndroid-tablet/

Only because you quote it again doesn't change the meaning any. It would only be a Nokia product if their were contracting Foxconn to do the manufacturing, supply chain management, stock control and hardware distribution for them. That is not the case, they are merely licensing out the brand name and design of device. If this is successfully done, then Nokia has a chance to interest investors for launching future real Nokia products. Otoh, if this is successful then Nokia might continue the relationship with Foxconn and supply future products for licensing.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

That is not the case, they are merely licensing out the brand name and design of device.

No, they're not. Who made the announcement for this product? -- Foxconn or Nokia? Where do you find information about this device? -- at Foxconn's website or at Nokia's website? Who is planning to sell smartphones in 2016? -- Foxconn or Nokia? Who will probably be advertising more tablets before 2016? -- Foxconn or Nokia?

Again, this is not an out-of-business company selling their name to be attached to a generic product. This is a company who has recently sold its manufacturing and logistic capabilities to Microsoft. While they rebuild these capabilities they're taking the path of least resistance, licensing their product to a company that does have manufacturing and logistic capabilities and can hit the ground running.

As this article says, this venture is a "collaboration" between Nokia and Foxconn ...

How is Nokia able to market a device under the Nokia brand? Though Microsoft got the rights to the Nokia name for mobile handsets and smartphones in the acquisition, Nokia still has a considerable amount of patents and intellectual property at its disposal that wasn’t bought by Microsoft. “Nokia claims to own 1,200 standard-essential patents, to have filed 914 patent families in 2013, and for 75 percent of the total patents it holds to have been created by teams still at Nokia,” said IHS analyst Ian Fogg in a research note Tuesday.

It’s with these licenses that Nokia aims to revive itself as a consumer-device brand.

Foxconn has taken on hardware production for the Nokia N1, including managing components, manufacturing and supply-chain operations, while Nokia brings its intellectual property to the table. Nokia continues to benefit from its assets, such as its maps and location-based software, which rank at the top of the market alongside offerings from TomTom and Google.

The Nokia N1 will likely be the first of many devices that Nokia releases as part of its own mobile restructuring, and the company aims to have its new devices be indistinguishable from products it has built itself. "We are pleased to bring the Nokia brand back into consumers' hands with the N1 Android tablet, and to help make sophisticated technologies simple," said Sebastian Nyström, head of products at Nokia Technologies, who announced the N1 at the Slush technology conference in Helsinki.

http://www.ibtimes.com/nokias-audaci...tablet-1725659

Emphasis mine. No, Nokia is not just licensing their name.