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Nokia's N1 Android Tablet Is Actually a Foxconn Tablet

Posted by Soulskill on from the why-build-a-tablet-when-you-could-not-build-a-tablet dept.

sfcrazy writes: "Nokia surprised everyone when it announced the N1 Android tablet during the Slush conference in Finland, today. This story has a twist, though: the N1 is not a Nokia device. Nokia doesn't have a device unit anymore: it sold its Devices and Services business to Microsoft in 2013. The N1 is made by Taiwanese contract manufacturing company Foxconn, which also manufactures the iPhone and the iPad.

But Nokia's relationship with Foxconn is different from Apple's. You buy iDevices from Apple, not Foxconn; you call Apple for support, not Foxconn. You never deal with Foxconn. In the case of N1, Foxconn will be handling the sales, distribution, and customer care for the device. Nokia is licensing the brand, the industrial design, the Z Launcher software layer, and the IP on a running royalty basis to Foxconn.

3 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. How much longer will Foxconn need Apple? by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is the problem with outsourcing manufacturing and keeping the "brand". Eventually, if they're good, the outsourcing company takes over. It's about time for this to happen to Apple. The hardware is approaching maturity. The last rev of the iPhone was only a minor change over the previous one, and the technology was comparable to HTC's product of two years ago.

    1. Re:How much longer will Foxconn need Apple? by abhi_beckert · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Depends what you're running on it. If you run a minimal OS with limited options on a processor or a more complex OS will make a difference. That and Android has to run on any phone, so efficiëncy is probably lost there too.

      No it doesn't have anything to do with that. Apple's CPUs are just better. A lot better.

      Even basic stuff like copying memory from one location in the CPU to another location is drastically faster on an iOS processor. The latest iPad Air is as fast as a low end Intel x86 chip... and the iPad chip does it with *far* less battery drain than the intel one.

      This tablet has a low end x86 chip, which means it will be faster than any ARM processor money can buy... except for Apple's ARM processors.

  2. I just don't know what Nokia is doing anymore. by WarlockD · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You have this tablet, by pure specs doesn't look that much better than the newer atom tables coming out and the glorified auto app sorter for your android (Z Launcher)? When I worked for US Nokia as a lowly support, developers and managers were just screaming at Finland about trying something to innovate. If you didn't speak Finish, your opinion didn't matter.

    To make matters worst, they thought they "won" when they released the N97 and just planned to make reversions off that thing. Sure it was good, but they just never paid attention to Google. Got laid off about 6 months after that.

    So now that the non-compete clause is almost over they are trying again? I still think Stephen Elop was a Trojan horse. It doesn't help maters how he and his cronies got a sweet deal after the merger.

    I know Nokia isn't "just a phone company". They have multiple divisions and a large part of Finland economy. But to just come out with an Android tablet, branded launcher all relying on Foxcom's support and build quality? I am not saying I know much about Foxcom, but it still feels kind of a big gamble right after you get burned badly from a market you dominated. What the hell are they thinking?