Nokia wants its US market share back

Remember back when everyone basically had the same cell phone? Those old, brickey Nokias? Well Nokia misses that feeling and wants to claw its way back into the US market again.

Its market share here in the states is about 10%, down from 28% five years ago according to the New York Times. Much of the reasoning behind Nokia’s fall from grace has to do with "its refusal to adapt its strategy to the market’s idiosyncrasies," a claim that Nokia agrees with.

“We felt we could teach the U.S. market how we do business elsewhere, and frankly, that failed. Now we just want to act, based on the needs and requirements of the market,” said Nokia’s chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

Its recent "Comes With Music" initiative might be seen as an innovative step in the right direction and there’s no doubt that Nokia is a powerhouse worldwide. It just needs to contend with Apple’s iPhone and the Google-led Open Handset Alliance, an industry group that Nokia wasn’t asked to join.

In a sense, the fact that Nokia is going it alone might be one of its greatest strengths. “It’s very clear that Apple, Google and other players are bringing in a lot of new directions,” said Kallasvuo. “Convergence is a nice, dandy word, but it means industries colliding.”

Nokia Pushes to Regain U.S. Sales in Spite of Apple and Google [New York Times]