Nokia's soon-to-be ex-chairman Jorma Ollila has spilled the beans on a couple of plans the Finnish company has to turn around its ailing fortunes. Although the firm posted $1.2 billion losses in the first quarter of 2012, it is to look at increasing its device range with tablets and alternative form factors for its mobile phones.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Ollila revealed that getting a Nokia tablet on to the market was vital for the company, and explained that the partnership with Microsoft would soon bear fruit.

"Tablets are an important one, so that is being looked into," he said. "And there will be different hybrids, different form factors [handset designs] in the future.

"[I am] happy with what is happening. When you have such strong competitors in the marketplace it will take a bit of time but things are going well."

His words echo similar made by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop when Pocket-lint interviewed him in January. He revealed to us that the company was interested in the tablet market, and hinted that Windows 8 and the metro-style user interface could be involved.

"We haven't announced anything specifically about tablets. I say that over and over again,"he said.

"But when you look at it and think about what people are expecting in their digital life, they are expecting some uniformity of experience across their phones, their tablets, their PCs, their automobiles, their gaming platforms.

"We are very interested in the Metro user interface and Metro is clearly the big bet for Microsoft... But again, no specific announcements ... but [it is] something we are interested in."

In addition, Niklas Savander, the company's executive vice-president,  told us in March: "The tablet is an interesting market for someone like Nokia because it is not cannibalising handset sales, it is cannibalising PC sales."

He also revealed that when Nokia does enter the market it will be with something quite different. "If we are going to be in that market we need to have a different point of view, because being the 101st maker isn't really a commercial or consumer proposition," he said.

Pic: (cc) Seadart