Nokia takes a shot at iPad, touts its own Lumia 2520

The Lumia 2520 tablet.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

It's Nokia's turn to fire a potshot at Apple and the iPad.

In a Web video ad (which is admittedly pretty cheesy with the British narrator), Nokia whimsically attacks Apple's hit tablet by going after the lack of keyboard and weak battery life, and touts its own Lumia 2520 as the "right tablet."

The Lumia 2520 can be paired with a $150 keyboard accessory that also acts as a cover, a bulkier cousin to the Microsoft Surface's thin keyboard accessory.

The Lumia 2520 is Nokia's first attempt to breach the tablet business, where the iPad remains king. Still, the hot tablet segment is fragmenting, with Android steadily gaining market share.

Nokia's tablet is running on Windows 8.1 RT, a stripped down version of Windows 8.1 that doesn't run legacy applications. Windows RT is widely considered a flop, with the only other new product running the platform being Microsoft's own Surface 2. Microsoft has released its own attack ads against the iPad.

Nokia, which is set to merge its devices business with Microsoft, believes its Lumia 2520 can stand out -- even from the Surface 2 -- through an LTE connection and its trademark colorful design. The battery life and keyboard accessories are some of the other advantages it has staked a claim to, leading to a video depicting a user annoyed with a dying iPad who also needs to bring out his laptop to do real work.

The ad can be perplexing at times. It's not like an iPad user can't buy a keyboard accessory, with many third-party options out there. It seems Microsoft and Nokia both believe a first-party-built keyboard is the way to go.