In an interview with AllThingsD, Chris Weber, President of Nokia Inc. (US) Head of Markets, North America, revealed that Nokia will soon stop selling both feature phones and Symbian-based smartphones in the United States and Canada. Instead, the company will focus all of its efforts on its Windows Phone devices. Weber said:
“When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc. It will be Windows Phone and the accessories around that. The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn’t matter what we do (elsewhere).”
Weber also confirmed that the Nokia N9, Nokia’s only MeeGo smartphone, will not launch in the US.
Nokia is planning its biggest marketing push for Windows Phone devices. “Without getting into numbers, it is significantly larger than anything we have done in the past and the most we will invest in any market worldwide,” Weber said.
Other changes are in store for Nokia’s operations in the US (and presumably Canada as well). It will stop selling devices directly to consumers and will focus instead on sales through wireless carriers.