When rumors began circulating that Nokia wanted to build a tablet, they were met with mixed reactions about how the company could stand out in a crowded room. With Microsoft running full force on the Surface brand and iPads and Nexus tablets getting the big-name recognition that consumers wanted, it seemed like Nokia's attempt at building a tablet would simply be a giant waste of money.
But here we are, many months later, and Nokia is now shipping its Lumia 2520 with LTE built in and with Nokia's smartphone unit on the cusp of being swallowed into the Microsoft nebulous, this could be a one-of-a-kind tablet. Like many tablets before it, can Nokia find a way, as it did with its smartphones, to stand out and carve out its own piece of the tablet pie?
That's not an easy question to answer because smartphones, unlike tablets, are generally replaced every two years as contracts expire. Tablets typically have longer life spans and are purely a luxury item compared to cell phones, which many consider an essential item like a car or television. Because of this, tablets need to offer a great value and user experience to win or else they will be consumed by the market and shunned to the liquidation sales channels.
The tablet costs $399 with a contract from either AT&T or Verizon or $499 sans-contract. Nokia is certainly not going for the bottom of the market with the 2520, which means that it has to be firing on all cylinders if it wants to compete with the Surface 2, iPad and Nexus tablets.
This article is brought to you in partnership with Neowin.