Stephen Elop, CEO of the company that turned from mobile phone Goliath into mid-rangeish David, just had a live Q&A at Engadget and, among other things, shed some light on the company’s WP8 dealings, new launches and tablet plans.

Elop was asked what the company plans to do if Windows Phone 8 doesn’t work out for the company, and whether Nokia has a contingency plan. He said the company’s strategy is based on a war of ecosystems. He said Apple, Android and Windows Phone are the main participants and that Nokia simply chose a side for “this current war”.

However, he pointed out that the company is always on the lookout and “working on” what comes next. He added: “that's not about going sideways or backwards ... but rather how the mobile world evolves. How do user experiences evolve? What role does HTML5 play? etc. etc. So, today we fight with Windows Phone while we lead the world forward and beyond.”

At the same time, the company today launched budget oriented Asha 308 and 309, which should lead the world not-as-forward and sort-of-beyond. These 3 inch, WQVGA capacitive touchscreen smartphones will retail for $99 and run 800MHz CPUs, 2MP cameras, 2GB microSD (up to 32GB support), 1,110mAh batteries and the new Nokia Xpress Browser that reduces data costs. 

Asked about Nokia’s plans to make a Windows 8 tablet, Elop was somewhat elusive and confirmed that the company hasn’t announced anything yet in that space. However, he did say that “the visibility of the "Metro" (ooops, can't call it that) experience is going to drive a lot more visibility for our products. At Nokia, we definitely believe in the importance of that common experience.”    

You can find the entire Q&A here.