Today we start with a trivia. Did you know that Nokia developed a working tablet already in 2001? This revelation was revealed in an interview with Finnish TV ISTV longtime employee of Nokia, Esko Yliruusi.
The device - from today's point of view - it does not look too attractive. In that time, however, it could have been considered a breakthrough. The prototype tablet Nokia had unusual (as for today's standards) monochrome screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The display does not have a touch panel and its role was played by keys arranged in large numbers on the sides of the housing. Below the screen there is a place for stereo speakers - the whole thing was a lot larger than the surface of the screen itself, but even so, it roughly resembled today's tablets. Unfortunately, in the interview it was not disclosed what was happened to the unit, there are not also given reasons why the project never saw the light of day. Apparently the equipment was not to the liking of the then authorities of Nokia and quite significant is the fact that Esko Yliruusi (who today told about it) was responsible for the project and left the company in the same year in which the prototype visible in the picture was completed. Yliruusi did not say it outright - but I suspect that in the background of his departure appears the tablet project - especially when you consider that the said engineer worked for Nokia since... 1966. It's a shame that Nokia overslept tablet revolution - we now know that the Finnish company could be its precursor!
Source BGR
