14 DAY TRIAL // A Windows 8 Tablet PC is also reportedly cooking in addition to a few Windows Phone 7 smartphones as a direct result of the Nokia and Microsoft alliance announced in February 2011. It appears that the Finish mobile phone manufacturer will embrace the next iteration of the Windows client for a slate it will be offering customers, this despite the fact that the alliance with Microsoft is focused on Windows Phone.
Of course, this is nothing but a rumor at this point in time, as neither Microsoft nor Nokia confirmed the information officially.
At least to me, it makes sense for Nokia to go beyond smartphones and offer consumers some emerging form factors such as Tablet PCs.
In such a context, Windows 8 is the best choice for the Finish manufacturer, since obviously it’s already in the process of outgrowing its own platforms including Symbian, and with Google’s Android not representing an option.
Windows 7 has already been adapted for some slates, but the truth is that those devices are more fully fledged PCs than Tablet PCs. In addition, Windows 7 is also not tailored to the role of slate platform, no matter what Microsoft says.
Presumably, the software giant has already started the coding work on Windows 8 Milestone 3 (M3) at the end of February 2011.
Sources close to the Redmond company claim that end users might get a taste of Windows 8 when the OS hits Beta in the second half of 2011.
At the same time, there is speculation that a slates flavor of Windows 8 could be made available to customers on new devices earlier than the remaining SKUs. It might be the case for Codenamed Peju, a Dell Tablet PC.
There are even rumors indicating that a Windows 8 design demo for Tablet PCs might be unveiled as early as June 2011.