Nokia is seriously contemplating entering the notebook market, according to research firm DisplaySearch. A blog entry by analyst John Jacobs quotes Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as saying in an interview with Finnish national broadcaster YLE that the company is "looking very actively" at the possibility.
However, it sounded as if Nokia's entry would not necessarily resemble what we think of today as a notebook or even mini-notebook. "We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cell phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo reportedly said. "Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication."
In the blog, Jacobs writes that he agrees with Kallasvuo that the two devices are converging. However, he says it would not be easy for a mobile phone company to break into the notebook market. There are several reasons for this, he says -- namely, established competition in PC industry, and the wide disparity in components. Mobile phones generally do not have heat sinks, fans, hard drives or optical drives, which means that even a well-known company like Nokia might have to spend a lot of time and effort negotiating new supplier relationships.
Jacobs says he believes Nokia is losing share in the smartphone segment, where the iPhone has made a strong showing. In recent quarters, Nokia has issued several lower sales forecasts.
A Nokia spokesperson verified that Kallasvuo did say notebooks were an active area of interest, but downplayed specific plans.
