Nokia claims Lumia range winning over ex-BlackBerry customers

Company hints that more enterprise-ready tablets are on the way

Nokia has claimed that it is winning a significant amount of enterprise business deals from former BlackBerry customers.

A Nokia spokesperson revealed a "significant number" of new Nokia customers are former BlackBerry buyers, during a press briefing attended by V3.

Nokia's western Europe general manager Conor Pierce declined V3's request for an exact figure on this claim but said interest in Lumia handsets in the business market has risen over the year.

"I can't comment on exact numbers, but we have seen unprecedented interest in the Lumia range and the pipeline from interest to completed sale has been very good."

Pierce added that the growth has been a gradual process over the past two years, powered by Nokia's move from Symbian to Windows Phone. "Windows Phone had a one percent market share when we first took it, now it's in the double digits. I'm very excited about the opportunity we have here and over the last two years we've learned a lot."

However, while Nokia is seeing an increase in market share for its Windows Phone devices, it still has a long way to go to catch up with rivals Apple, Samsung and other Android manufacturers, which still dominate the smartphone market.

V3 contacted BlackBerry for a comment in response to Nokia's claims but had received no reply at the time of publication.

Nokia is also pushing into the tablet market with its first ever Windows 8.1 RT tablet, the Lumia 2520, and Pierce said the company expects the release to further increase the firm's stake in the enterprise market in 2014.

"On the B2B side, the opportunity is tremendous. We have a strong background and selection of partners in the B2B space and we'll be really pushing into the enterprise next year," he said. "[The Nokia Lumia 2520] is our first foray into this category."

The Nokia Lumia 2520 was unveiled alongside the 1520 smartphone at Nokia World in Dubai earlier this year. Since being unveiled the company has toted its enterprise productivity features as key selling points, describing the two devices as "fit for business".

Nokia UK product manager Adam Giles said the company chose to enter the market as it felt, with the release of Windows 8.1 RT, it could bring something new.

"Windows is moving into the new world of ecosystems where everything works and syncs," he said. "We always said we would enter [the tablet market] when we thought we could bring something to it. Our product is about productivity as well as fun...you have 4G for the always connected...a full version of Microsoft Office and VPN, so businesses can get their email on it."

The Lumia 2520 is set to be available to the general public exclusively from John Lewis. Pierce said the company will also be making it available to businesses via a select number of B2B partners.

Check back with V3 later this week for a full review of the Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet.