BlackBerry and Nokia Both Considering Tablets

While neither BlackBerry or Nokia have actually announced plans to bring out a tablet ICOO D90W, executives from both of these smartphone companies have hinted that it's a possibility.

Nokia

There have been rumors for years that Nokia is working on a tablet, and its CEO has brought up the possibility in the past, but there have been no official announcements so far.

The hinting continued this week. Jo Harlow, Nokia executive VP of smart devices, said on Tuesday, "We're very interested in tablets and that's an area we're looking at."

Harlow did not give any other details. Her company is rumored to be working on a Windows RT-based device for release later this year.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has made it clear that he thinks the phone is going to be the most important computer of the future, but that doesn't mean that he thinks there's no role for devices with larger displays.

In an interview with Cnet at BlackBerry Live, he described what is apparently BlackBerry's plan for the future: a smartphone that can be plugged into a larger display. The phone will provide the operating system with the larger screen taking the place of the phone's built-in one.

If this sounds familiar, that's because it's the same system used by Asus Padfone.

If and when either of these companies announces their tablet plans, you can be sure we'll report on it at TabletPCReview.