One of the major differences between Microsoft's smartphone and tablet strategy and that of its rivals Google and Apple is that it's split.

While both Android and iOS are spread across both forms of devices, it's Windows 8, and not Windows Phone 7, that's set to launch on tablets in 2012.

It creates something of a pickle for Windows Phone OEMs interested in launching a tablet: should they offer support for Windows 8, too?

It takes two

According to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop - speaking during the firm's post Q3 2011 financial results conference call - it's a move the Finnish firm isn't willing to rule out.

"We will over time see that [Windows 8] on hundreds of millions of PCs and tablets," he said in the call.

"That accrues to the overall power Microsoft will have in the marketplace [and to] ourselves as a lead [Windows Phone] vendor.

"From an ecosystem perspective, there are benefits and synergies that exist between Windows and Windows Phone. We see that opportunity. We'll certainly consider those opportunities going forward."

Countdown to launch

Elsewhere, Elop didn't reveal how many Windows Phone devices Nokia will reveal at Nokia World at the end of October, but he did say the launch of the firm's first devices running Microsoft's OS would be confined to certain countries to begin with.

"We are being very deliberate in the sequence," he added.

"It is a significant shift in the organisation for how we sell and how we manufacture. We're very thoughtful about how we first launch Windows Phone relative to where Symbian is strong so we get the right balance and right dynamics."

Nokia posted better than expected results in Q3 2011, with sales dipping 13 percent to $8.98 billion.

[source: CNET]