Tablets an “Interesting Opportunity,” Says Nokia CEO

Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft has finally borne its first fruit: The handset maker’s new Lumia Windows Phone line. With those devices finally headed to market, will Nokia turn its attention to tablets, rolling out a Windows 8 device to compete with the iPad and its would-be rivals?

Tough to say, but in an interview with the Financial Times, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop made it clear that the company is considering the idea.

“One of the things that we are excited about in terms of support for the Windows Phone are the announcements made around Windows 8 for tablets and personal computers,” Elop said. “When you see the user experience from the Nokia Lumia environment appearing on hundreds of millions of tablets and PCs in the future, you can see that there is a clear synergy between all those environments. So that presents an interesting opportunity for Nokia.”

So, in Elop’s eyes, Nokia’s ecosystem should extend well beyond just handsets. The question is, will the Lumia allow the company establish enough of a beachhead in the smartphone world to get it there?