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What the Finnish cellphone maker did release was a tablet device powered by Debian Linux inside.

The pocket-sized communication device debuted from Nokia, with the ability to connect to the Internet in a couple of ways.

Nokia's 770, described as a Linux-based Internet tablet, will get a user online either via a home-based Wi-Fi connection, or through a Bluetooth enabled cellular phone. Nokia hasn't made a non-telephone device for the consumer market since 1997, back when the company still made televisions. Nokia does still make devices for the business market, though.

The device sports a touch screen with a stylus pen and handwriting recognition software. Battery life should last about 3 hours. Nokia envisions the device being used as a low-cost alternative to adding a second computer to a phone.

Primarily, the 770 will browse the Web and display a user's e-mail. The small lightweight device carries Linux instead of Symbian because, in the words of a Nokia executive, the operating system is the best platform for this type of non-cellular device.

Nokia may have won more points with the open source community today. The company will make a Linux developer toolkit available. Called Maemo, this signals the company's embrace of the open source community.

It is likely Nokia's decision to release Maemo will spur developers to create more applications for the platform, and thus drive more consumers to pick up later versions of products like the 770 tablet.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.