Nokia to withdraw from Japanese market

I / Helsinki November 27, 2008, 17:40 IST

Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, said today it would stop selling and marketing its mobile devices in Japan because its market share there remained below expectations.

"In the current global economic climate, we have concluded that the continuation of our investment in Japan-specific product variants is no longer sustainable," Timo Ihamuotila, executive vice president at Nokia, said in a statement.

However, sales of the Vertu luxury mobile phones, a brand owned by Nokia, will continue in Japan, the Finnish company said. Its global research and development as well as sourcing operations in Japan will also continue.

"In Japan, we have had a low market share, below our own targets also. We have been investing in the market for a long time, but we are still in that situation," Thomas Joensson, communications executive vice president, told AFP.

He added that the company continued to believe its exclusive Vertu brand would succeed in the Japanese niche market segment despite the global financial turmoil.

Vertu makes expensive handsets that are often embellished with titanium, gold, jewels and crystal.

In October, Nokia said it estimated its global market share in July-September was 38 per cent. The Finnish firm has done very well in emerging markets such as China and India, but has failed to attract technology savvy Japanese consumers.

Handsets designed by foreign manufacturers have traditionally been unpopular among Japan's notoriously finicky consumers.

The country's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo and number three Softbank Mobile sell Nokia handsets, but the Finnish giant's market share is limited.