Nokia's chief executive has given the strongest indication yet that his company is looking to make a move into the netbook market.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said at an event in New Delhi that Nokia is looking at the possibility of moving beyond handsets and into larger systems.

"The PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge. A lot of opportunity can be seen in this converged area," he said. "We are looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there."

Kallasvuo's comments are the hardest evidence yet that Nokia is considering a netbook release. The company has been looking at the possibility of entering the market since at least February.

Nokia is among a growing list of companies making plans to release netbook devices. Apple is rumoured to be in the late stages of developing one or more tablet-style devices, while Google has said that its Chrome-based operating system would target the netbook operating system sector.