Finns have always been quick to adopt new technologies. Now tablet computers are rapidly becoming a basic part of many Finnish homes -- and young lives.
"Well, the tablet has changed our lives in that our six-year-old son's first device is a tablet. Basically gaming is his great passion at the moment," says Timo Pihlaja, who was shopping at an electronics store in Espoo on Tuesday.
The same day in Abu Dhabi, at the last-ever Nokia World event, Finland's tech giant presented its first tablet -- long after many of its competitors. Apple introduced its iPad nearly four years ago, setting off a firestorm of tablet sales. That has been mirrored by a slump in sales of traditional computers.
According to Toni Nygren, chief analyst at the Espoo-based IT consultancy Marketvisio, tablets and smartphones together have already eaten away more than 10 percent of the PC market. This year tablet sales are still well below those of desktops and notebooks. But that is projected to flip in 2014.
Nygren predicts that tablet sales will begin to level off after that -- only to be followed by new device formats including thin, soft flexible tablets.
So far tablets are optimal for entertainment use, with most companies seeing them as too flimsy and clumsy for full-time office use.
Yet accessories are making them a more viable option for work as well. Hybrid models that can be attached to full-sized keyboards will bring even stronger competition for old-fashioned formats.