Nokia’s net-Booklet

Well this was something of a surprise – the kind of thing I’d expected Nokia to announce with Microsoft during the joint  press conference a few weeks back. A Nokia netbook sorry, Booklet, running Windows.

The most interesting aspects for me are the integrated GPS and integration with Nokia’s Ovi application platform/store. They just struck a firm stake in the ground against Apple who have a rumoured tablet Mac on the way with App Store integration.

As Fast Company notes, there is little that is groundbreaking with this Booklet from a specs point of view – apart from the GPS which may be a way for Nokia to recoup some of the $8bn is paid for Navteq. With Twitter talking about location over the last few days, perhaps we’re finally getting closer to the scenarios we’ve all harped on about for the last few years under the banner of Location Based Services. Of course the iPhone has many of these already such as the excellent Urbanspoon.

Lots of healthy competition in the market right now between Microsoft, Google, Apple, Palm, Nokia etc which is all good news for consumers.