14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia was reported a while ago to plan on entering the netbook market, and the company already started to make steps in this regard. Nokia seems to have partnered with Foxconn for the manufacturing of its compact mobile computer that was announced back in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Earlier reports pointed towards the fact that Nokia was in talks with some Taiwan netbook makers and EMS companies for a cooperation in making its own branded netbooks, and the latest news reports show that the chosen manufacturer is Foxconn. The phone maker might have opted for this partnership because it was taking into consideration the effective time needed for production, as well as a reduction in costs, which would be lower than in case it had chosen to produce the device all by itself.
Foxconn, one of the leading notebook contract manufacturers in the world, is also known as maker of products such as PS2, PS3, 360, Wii, Mini, Mac, Kindle, iPhone and many more. The news that Nokia and Foxconn have partnered to produce netbooks comes from the news site The Street, which cites “people familiar with the company.” It seems that the partnership is connected to Foxconn closing in on a deal to lease the former Nokia manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
The two companies had an agreement a few years ago, when Nokia needed the manufacturing of some mobile phones that were heading towards Verizon Wireless. The company's entrance on the netbook market won't bring it too much profit, at least not at the beginning, so a partnership with Foxconn for the manufacturing of the devices would make sense. At the same time, the fact that a mobile phone maker moves into the netbook area does not come too much as a surprise, if we're to consider the fact that the segment has seen an impressive growth lately, and that wireless carriers already announced plans to sell such devices to their customers.