Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Nokia drops Symbian, feature phones in North America

By | August 9, 2011, 11:54am PDT

Summary: Nokia is pulling back on its presence in the mobile phone market in both the United States and Canada.

In a move to throw the bulk of its resources in front of Windows Phone 7 projects, Nokia is pulling back on some of its products in North America.

Specifically, the Finnish phone maker will no longer sell feature phones and Symbian-based smartphones in the United States and Canada.

Nokia Inc. president Chris Weber explained to AllThingsD that North America is a priority to Nokia as is its relationship with Microsoft:

When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc…

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 (elsewhere).

Nokia will also shift towards working more closely with “traditional wireless carriers,” rather than trying to sell unsubsidized cell phones to consumers.

Additionally, the Nokia N9 MeeGo smartphone, which debuted in June, will not be sold in the United States. Thus, if you want a Nokia smartphone, keep waiting for the WP7devices.

In all likelihood, this is a smart move for Nokia. Its sales figures and ranking amongst the top smartphone vendors and platforms is continuing to slip worldwide. Some would even argue that it’s all but over for Nokia.

Focusing on a platform that has had decent success for only being less than a year old and producing a handful of better devices rather than a collection of cheap gadgets is probably Nokia’s best shot at this point.

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Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: Nokia drops Symbian, feature phones in North America
Rubix_z 10th Aug
Nokia let me down so badlly with their N97, that I will probably never buy another Nokia product in my life. For the rest; Symbian is an extremely outdated platform which doesn't fit in today's smartphone market, so I think they made the right move.
Instead OS's like WP7, iPhone, and Android is what people want.

I don't even rthink people want feature phones all that much, the Verizon store only had 3 model feature phones, everything else where smartphones.
@William Farrell

No one wants Wp7
@Sultansulan Actually, Loverock Davidson wants a WP7 with a side of Mango.
0 Votes
+ -
Life just isn't fair.
Dietrich T. Schmitz, Your Linux Advocate! 9th Aug
Paging Matthew Miller
A real pity - smartphones with virtual keypads are hard to read in bright light and they consume vast amounts of power, needing frequent recharging.
I also think it's a shame. I have used a few brands over the years but only ever for a short time. Without fail, I very quickly return to using Nokia mobile phones - in my experience, they have all been bulletproof. I got my first Symbian based one a month ago (a C6-00). Love it...satisfies all my requirements - takes calls, makes calls and has WiFi when I need it. Pure and simple. People who almost want their cell phone to wash their car and do their laundry for them need to get a life. I refuse to let an innanimate object run my life......... happy
They just lost my business. I have no interest in a a Windows phone or anything else Microsoft. Just what I want in my pocket a product as secure as a sieve and blue screen of death
well it's Nokia's or North America's loss; over here in Africa we won't be missing that; presently i use 2 nokia phones - a feature phone (c2-00) and a symbian-based one (c5-00) and there are stuff i really enjoy on them, like being able to synchronise my contacts and messages via bluetooth for example (makes changing phones easy). Besides i'm not a fan of touchscreen phones (if you're as reckless a phone user as i am you would be too)
Nokia let me down so badlly with their N97, that I will probably never buy another Nokia product in my life. For the rest; Symbian is an extremely outdated platform which doesn't fit in today's smartphone market, so I think they made the right move.

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