Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia is joining the ever-growing in-demand tablet market, according to Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia Corp. He said that the company is planning to design a unique tablet. Here are Mr. Elop’s full comments.

We have a number of options in the tablet computing space given the changing strategy that we have. For example, we could take advantage of Microsoft technology and software and build a Windows-oriented tablet, or we could do things with some of the other software assets that we have. Our team right now is assessing what’s the right tablet strategy for Nokia how does that fit in

There are now over 200 different tablets on the marketplace, only one of them is doing really well. My challenge to the team is I don’t want to be the 201st tablet on the market that you cannot tell from all of the others. We have to take an uniquely Nokia prospective and so the teams are working very hard on something that would be differentiating relative to everything else that is going on in the market

While Nokia has yet to set a target date or even develop one, we can all take a look at what we can expect from it. Since Nokia has dropped Symbian, that leaves us just two natural choices Windows or MeeGo. However, Nokia seems confident that its tablet will be state of the art, which means that Android or Linux could be used.

Like we stated above, all of this news is just the start of it for Nokia. But it should be exciting to see how Nokia takes on Apple, along with Android in this tough market.

Via Xbit Labs

Acer has already released a tablet and may also have plans to release a smartphone or two, but the latest thing up Acer’s sleeve is the company’s plans to make tablets, along with smartphones, a key in the company. Acer is planning to launch a business unit for tablets and smartphones under the Acer brand.

The new unit will be doing the research and development of the new products. Acer, who appears to be trying to give the brand a makeover, has not released much info beyond the fact that a new business unit is being established.

Here is what the president of Acer, Jim Wong, had to say:

Touch/mobile devices open up a host of new opportunities. They form Acer’s new business and growth engine for the future. To focus on this market, we saw the need to allocate sufficient resources, and devise a new management structure different from the PC business specifically for this line of business

Via Hot Hardware

Walmart is slowly shrinking the electronics department in stores across the nation. In the past few years, Walmart has expanded the electronic areas. But it now appears that the sales in gadgets have slumped causing Walmart to reorganize the stores. Walmart has stated that the focus will shift to outdoor and camping merchandise for now.

However, Walmart is maintaining that electronics are still a key part of the store, but made it clear that the sales of electronics have been disappointing for a while now. Most Walmart stores will set their electronics sections back to their original size, taking 2,000 square feet off the category in all stores.

Walmart did not release info on when the change will be made or how the company plays to compete with big-box electronic stores. Walmart has been working hard for years to beat Best Buy, but it now appears to be slowing down on that path.

Via Hot Hardware