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Nokia Pulls Out Of Japan (NOK)

old-nokias.jpgNokia (NOK), the world's biggest cellphone maker, is pulling out of Japan, the world's no. 4 mobile market. Nokia has tiny market share in Japan, and will only market its super-high-end Vertu phones there for now.

Reuters: Mobile phone companies also see limited scope for growth in Japan, where 109 million subscribers, or some 85 percent of the population, already own a mobile phone. ...

The quirks of Japan's mobile phone market have prevented foreign companies, including Nokia's rivals such as Samsung Electronics and LG, from successfully targeting Japanese consumers. ...

Foreign companies, excluding Sony Ericsson, only occupy around 5 percent of Japan's mobile phone market, according to IDC Japan, a research firm. Japanese manufacturers, in turn, have only a small presence outside their home market.

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Meanwhile, we can't help but wonder how Nokia be able to take more market share in the U.S. Last quarter, Nokia held 8% of the U.S. market, fifth place behind Samsung, Motorola (MOT), LG, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM), and just ahead of iPhone maker Apple (AAPL).

The problem: Beyond its N95 smartphone, which has a tiny (but passionate) niche audience among live mobile video broadcasters, the only Nokias we see in the U.S. are low-margin, throwaway phones that people get for free from their carriers.

Meanwhile, Nokia has had little success marketing its high-margin smartphones in the U.S., where Apple, Google (GOOG), and RIM are dominating mindshare.

See Also:
Another Apple iPhone Advantage: Mac Software Companies
Nokia: Global Consumer Spending Crash, Cutting Estimates
This Winter's Smartphone Wars Are Set: Who's Going To Win?

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