Nokia pulls out of Japan, nobody notices

It's not like Nokia was dominating sales in Japan anyway -- far from it. So it's not too big a loss to walk away from its near 1 percent market share when it's sitting atop a (dwindling) 40% 39% share globally. According to Nokia vice president Timo Ihamuotila, "We have judged that we cannot continue to invest in product development just for Japan amid the current tough economic conditions." Nokia will continue to sell its luxury Vertu branded phones though, presumably on that MVNO Nokia is rumored to be rolling out this spring.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 27th 2008 4:48PM]

Their market share will continue to drop as other companies phone prices drop. Nokia Phones are still too expensive.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 27th 2008 5:20PM]

and this is surprising?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 27th 2008 6:22PM]

anything to do with this? http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/22/nokia-tying-up-with-ntt-docomo-for-japanese-mvno/

[JRMG Posted Nov 28th 2008 4:53AM]

It's possible that the major Japanese carriers (Docomo, AU, Softbank) just don't want to bring in Nokia to their lineup of phones. Maybe they want to shut Nokia out because they're not Japanese like Sony, Toshiba, or Panasonic. My "keitai" is Panasonic, and I've never seen that brand sell in Canada either.

[bluelotus Posted Nov 30th 2008 3:31AM]

another engadget comment aimed to destroy Nokia's image... do they even know they are planning something else in japan other than cell phones? these writers sure are stupid...