Nokia signs $321M deal with 360buy

Nokia has signed an agreement worth 2 billion yuan (US$321 million) with Chinese e-commerce giant 360buy as part of a strategic partnership, in which the former will sell its smartphones directly on the latter's online platform.

The partnership will make 360buy Nokia's largest e-commerce partner in China, the Chinese company said in a press statement last Friday.

The tie-up allows Chinese consumers to buy the Finnish handset maker's latest smartphones as soon as they are available in the country. Nokia also launched a new e-store of its own on 360buy.com, which will complement its other traditional distribution channels such as proprietary stores and licensed vendors, it added.

Nokia's latest smartphone, the Lumia 920, has since debuted on 360buy.com, which will be followed by the release of the Nokia 2050, 360buy said.

The smartphone maker's agreement with 360buy is its latest effort to revitalize sales and market share in China's booming mobile space that is seeing increasing presence of iPhone and Android phones as well as locally-made handsets.

Earlier this month, Nokia inked a deal with China's largest mobile operator, China Mobile, to launch a version of its Lumia smartphone tailored specifically for the country. The Lumia 920T will be the first Windows Phone-based device running on China Mobile's Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) network.