Nokia's tablet turns Microsoft from BFF to archrival

The Lumia 2520 tablet.

(Credit: Nokia) 

 

Well, this is awkward.
Just hours after Microsoft's Surface 2 became available for sale, Nokia unveiled its own take on a Windows tablet, the Lumia 2520, putting some pressure on its soon-to-be parent company.
As Microsoft fans snapped up the Surface 2 in the US, Nokia introduced the Lumia 2520 alongside a number of jumbo smartphones and low-cost basic handsets halfway around the world in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Microsoft, of course, will eventually absorb Nokia's mobile devices business. But the introduction of the Lumia 2520, which runs the same Windows 8.1 RT operating system as the Surface 2, puts the once tight-knit partners in direct competition with each other.
Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's Windows Phone guru, previously told CNET that the acquisition of Nokia's handset business would mean fewer secrets. Once Nokia's phone business is a part of Microsoft, one can imagine there will be fewer redundancies of this sort.
Both run Windows 8.1 RT, which is the version of Windows that can't run legacy apps, an issue the original Surface RT faced when hitting the market. Why buy a Windows-based tablet when it can't run popular programs such as iTunes?
Both also offer sleek designs, USB ports, a 10.1-inch display, and that Windows-logo home button. Nokia even has its own $149 power keyboard cover accessory, although it's bulkier than Microsoft's Touch and Type covers.
Ifi Majid, who runs product marketing for Nokia's North American business, argued that Nokia took an approach that started with "mobile and worked its way down," while Microsoft is looking at the "business user and working its way up." The two companies come from different approaches, which result in different products.
"There's definitely room for both," Majid insisted.