Nokia to stop selling cellphones in Japan

In reporting about Nokia’s plans to be come an MVNO in Japan a while back, fellow UV writer Ilinca commented that the world’s biggest cellphone maker might have a hard time due to the Japanese cellphone market’s current state of saturation and amount of competition.

Well, she won’t have to worry about that anymore, because Nokia has just announced that it will stop selling phones in Japan altogether. That and their current marketing activities.

The reason, according to Nokia executive vice president Timo Ihamuotila, is because continued investment in tailor-made Japanese handsets is “no longer sustainable.” His full comment is pasted below:

“In the current global economic climate, we have concluded that the continuation of our investment in Japan-specific product variants is no longer sustainable. Moving forward, in Japan, Nokia will concentrate on global R&D activities, focused opportunities like Vertu, as well as further development of Nokia’s sourcing activities.”

Despite pulling out of the local cellphone business, however, Nokia’s global R&D and sourcing operations in Japan will continue uninterrupted. And what about Vertu? Fans of Nokia’s high-end mobile phone brand won’t be facing any problems, as it will remain alive. In fact, the company will work even harder on the luxury line, with strong focus on the Japanese market.

This is bad news for Nokia, but it’s even worse for its competitors who have smaller market share (it is reported that approximately 10% of Nokia Japan employees will be affected by these plans).

If Nokia can’t make it in Japan, how can anyone else? That’s a tough question, but somehow, I feel Apple holds an answer.

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Posted on 27 Nov 08 - Filed in Nokia, Wireless - Comments - Written by David Gonzales

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