Finnish mobile leader Nokia may soon be entering the laptop market, if comments made by its chief executive are anything to go by.

In an interview with Finnish national television station YLE, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo suggested that the firm might be making its first foray into the industry by producing netbooks. When asked whether Nokia had any plans to make laptops, Mr Kallasvuo said: "We are looking very actively also at this opportunity."

He added: "We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cellphone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging. "Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication." According to some mobile industry pundits, the first suggestion of Nokia entering the laptop market arose last week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, when Mr Kallasvuo referred to Nokia's new offerings as "mobile computers" instead of smartphones.

The move is seen by many as Nokia fighting back against PC-makers who have entered the mobile phone industry. For instance, PC-brand Acer recently announced that it would be launching eight new mobile phones, while other PC manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo have also joined this sphere. Nokia is trying hard to shore up its competitive edge in the current economic climate.

Last week, it unveiled a new partnership with VoIP provider Skype, and earlier this month it was revealed that the mobile phone giant was in talks with leading social network Facebook about a possible alliance.