Live in the United States? Have your eyes on a Nokia smartphone running Symbian?
Tough luck.
According to reports, the Finnish phone maker is planning to end sales of its Symbian-based smartphones and feature phones in North America, effectively doubling down on its bet that Microsoft’s Windows Phone will reverse its recent market-share declines. As reported by the blog Engadget, Nokia’s N9, which attracted strong reviews but runs the MeeGo operating system, will not appear in the United States.
“When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc.,” Chris Weber, president of Nokia, told AllThingsD in an interview published Aug. 9. “It will be Windows Phone and the accessories around that. The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn t matter what we do.”
According to Weber, Nokia is planning a massive marketing campaign for its Windows Phone smartphones launched in the United States, which were created by the company’s San Diego outpost.
For its part, Microsoft is also hoping that its Nokia agreement will result in an increased market for Windows Phone. However, with Nokia bleeding market share at an appreciable rate, it’s an open question whether Microsoft can inherit its new partner s significant market share without significant attrition.
To read the original eWeek article, click here: Nokia Betting Everything on Windows Phone in U.S.
