Microsoft, Nokia may be readying a one-two tablet punch

Microsoft and its latest purchase target, Nokia, have lined up big announcements on September 23 and October 22, both likely to involve some form of tablets.

Microsoft has announced it will launch its next-generation Surface tablets at its Sept. 23 event, but it's unclear what Nokia plans for October 22, although earlier sources told Reuters that it planned a late-September launch of a phablet a phone with a screen larger than five inches, making it akin to a tablet.

Yesterday, though, the news service wrote that the announcement had been delayed, but today a cryptic announcement by Nokia indicates it may still be on. A post on its Twitter account says "At Nokia, we never stop innovating. More to share on October 22," accompanied by a photo of skiers and the words #blazing, #stories and #innovationreinvented.

The phablet was reported to be a large-form Nokia Lumia phone running Windows Phone 8.

Tim Greene covers Microsoft and unified communications for Network World and writes the Mostly Microsoft blog. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter@Tim_Greene.

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