Nokia launches 10-inch tablet

Nokia has launched its first tablet product, the Windows-powered, 10-inch Lumia 2520. While the device is high-spec and priced competitively for the 10-inch segment of the market, analysts have expressed surprise that Nokia has opted not to produce a wifi-only model in this form factor.

The new device is LTE-enabled, features a full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.2GHz quad core processor, Carl Zeiss optics on the onboard camera, microSD and 32GB of onboard storage—all for a recommended, unsubsidized price of $499.

But Informa analyst Malik Saadi raised questions over Nokia’s decision to focus on the 10-inch form factor, which he said encourages home use because of its large size, without offering a wifi-only option.

“The fact that all Lumia 2520 variants will be LTE-capable and there will be no wifi-only variant means Nokia aims to use operators as the primary channel for its tablets,” he said. “However, even at US$499, operators could struggle to subsidize the Lumia 2520. The market for this category of devices (10” form factor with LTE connectivity) has quickly saturated and the dominance of the iPad in this segment means that the Lumia 2520 will find it hard to compete unless Nokia spends significant marketing dollars to promote it as a key challenger in the tablet market.”

Nonetheless Saadi argued that pursuing the operator channel is “a good strategy” for Nokia, creating “an attractive proposition to operators that want to promote LTE data plans for tablets. But he suggested that LTE traffic on tablets is likely to be driven by smaller form factor devices, which users are more inclined to take with them when they leave their homes.