Nokia Corporation will exit the Japanese cellphone market at the end of August, reports Nikkei. According to the same report, the Finnish handset manufacturer had stopped supplying cellphones to Japanese carriers from 2008.
Nokia will close the high-end Vertu handset stores in Tokio's Shibuya and Ginza districts by the end of July. The Vertu business has been struggling to keep up with the rising in popularity of smartphones, the business daily reported. Nokia's phone service, run on network infrastructure leased from NTT DoCoMo Inc. will be discontinued when it's contract will expire at the end of August.
Nokia's Tokio office will stay open until the end of the year to handle fee refunds and other matters, the paper reported. Verdu handsets costs 600.000 yen ( around 7.450$ ) to 20 million yen ( 248.354$ ) each, with some models decorated with precious metals or traditional Japanese lacquer designs, the Nikkei reported.
Nokia has been restructuring after it's earning deteriorated due to the rise of Apple Inc.'s iPhone along with other smartphones.
Article via http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/01/us-nokia-idUSTRE7604A620110701
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