Will the Nokia Booklet be good enough?

Nokia the world's largest handset maker has made its foray in the laptop/computing space. The move does not come as a surprise. Many tech pundits had predicted this, considering the highly competitive mobile handset market.

The Finnish company recently announced its first netbook, called the Nokia Booklet 3G.

Like all netbooks, the Nokia Booklet 3G is essentially a laptop PC and has impressive features. Nokia says the Booklet will run Windows and claims to have an impressive battery life of 12 hours.

Sources in the mobile/laptop computing world project Booklet to have a neat modern design and a modern metallic appearance case.

Speaking about the company's foray, Nokia's executive vice president for Devices, Kai Oistamo wrote on the Nokia blog, 'A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.'

The Nokia Booklet's key product USP is that unlike almost all other netbooks, it has an internal mobile broadband card with a SIM slot. Other netbooks rely on external USB mobile broadband modems for internet access. Embedding of this internal wireless modem makes the Booklet 3G a sci-fi update to Nokia's traditional phone handset product range.

Since Nokia's phone handset manufacturer rivals -- such as Apple, LG and Samsung -- have been selling netbooks for some time now, Nokia is in danger of losing market and customer share by these brands. Nokia will use the Booklet to support its telecom service provider's customers and discourage them from taking netbooks.

Powered by the efficient Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet promises to deliver a broad range of connectivity options -- including 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi -- gives consumers high-speed access to the internet, including Nokia's broad suite of Ovi services.

Nokia also now faces new and different competitors for the Booklet that are strong in the laptop PC space such as Dell, HP and Sony that are weak or non-existent players in the mobile phones market.

How Nokia will differentiate its product stand on mobiles and handheld computing is a question that many are asking. The answer to which will only come with time.

Amit Nayak is CEO of Taiwan based Geek IT Stores. He can be reached at ammeetnayak@geekitstores.in.