It's no secret that Nokia and Microsoft have a unique partnership in the smartphone world and now it appears that the two will be moving that partnership to tablets. At a Nokia Lumia 620 launch in Pakistan the first image of the device appeared for a brief moment on stage before it was quickly removed.

The tablet appears to have a 7- to 8-inch display as it appeared next to a Lumia 620 and a desktop display. The tablet appears to have a plastic casing, possibly the same polycarbonate casing Nokia uses on its Lumia smartphones. There is no way to tell from the picture if this is a Windows RT or Windows 8 tablet. A lower-priced Windows tablet could certainly shake things up in the smaller tablet space and compete directly with the iPad mini, Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. Microsoft is hoping that sales of tablets running both Windows RT and Windows 8 begin to take off with consumers. If Nokia launches this with a price point low enough to compete with other 7-inch tablets it could help both Nokia and Microsoft to get their foot in the door of the lower-cost tablet market.

Rumors also are circulating that Nokia will launch this tablet line under its Lumia brand. Nokia's Lumia smartphones have become the premier Windows Phones of choice and are also the most successful in terms of sales compared to other Windows Phone licensees such as Samsung and HTC. It would make sense that Nokia might use the Lumia branding on the tablet, as the Lumia name has established itself as a recognizable brand.

Nokia will be showing off new hardware at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which will run Feb. 25 - 28. It is almost certain that Nokia will launch this tablet at the conference along with a few new Lumia smartphones.