Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo kicked up quite a stir with a comment on Finnish television that said the company is considering entering the notebook or netbook market.

During an interview with Finnish broadcaster YLE, Kallasvuo responded to a question about whether Nokia is considering entering the notebook or netbook market. He replied that Nokia is "looking very actively" at producing a PC device.

"We don't have to look even five years into the future to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are converging in many ways," he added. "Today, we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication."

A Nokia spokesperson declined to elaborate further to InternetNews.com on Kallasvuo's comment.

It's thus unclear how Nokia expects to translate its market-leading position in mobile handsets to the PC market. And that sort of transition may be especially difficult, coming at a time when sales of most PC categories are slowing.

Industry observers say the company's success will depend on what Nokia actually brings to the table. One factor is whether Nokia is considering notebooks, netbooks, or both -- a key difference that Kallasvuo did not specify.

"I don't believe they can do [notebooks]. I don't believe they have the skill to go after that," Mike Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner's client computing group, told InternetNews.com. "An extension of a mobile Internet device could be possible if they want it."

"But I really don't think a regular notebook would be the case," he added, pointing to the high hurdles Nokia would have to surmount, like starting from square one with original design manufacturers (ODMs,) who produce hardware for companies like Nokia to rebrand.

"The margin is low and Nokia doesn't have any connections with the ODMs," Kitagawa said.

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