To it comes as no surprise that Nokia won’t sell any more Symbian devices in US. Nokia’s US head Chris Weber in an interview with AllthingsD confirmed that they would not ship any S40 or Symbian devices in US after Windows Phone 7 rolls out. Nokia has promised updates to its Symbian OS until 2016, but they don’t want to ship a Symbian device in US even before 2011 ends, why? The answer is easy, no one would buy them!
The reason why Nokia doesn’t even want to try selling Symbian in US anymore is somewhat similar to why Blackberry is seeing growth in developing nations even as it loses market share in US. Developing markets like India still buy a Nokia for its resale value, price and brand recognition, while the Blackberry is still growing in India for just one reason: BBM. With the smartphone revolution happening fastest in US, consumers there are rapidly moving to options like Android and iPhone. However in countries like India Nokia can still get away by selling a Symbian for a couple of more years and wait for Windows Phone 7 to settle in.
The surprising bit here is the fact that Nokia’s MeeGo powered N9 won’t launch in US either. The only justification to that is either Microsoft is pressuring Nokia to keep Windows Phone 7 exclusive or Nokia wants to avoid the biggest smartphone market from getting a taste of what MeeGo could have been on a Nokia. For Nokia, going with Windows Phone is a big move and they need to score in US to be successful. You may also give Nokia credit for the fact that, they never were too successful with Symbian in US.
