Nokia plans to exit its low-end feature phone and Symbian smartphone businesses in North America following the launch of its first round of Windows Phones, Journal blog AllThingsD reports. Nokia has historically had a great deal of trouble placing smartphones with carriers here in the U.S., and the Finnish phone maker has subsequently not had much success penetrating the market. Moving forward, however, Nokia is betting the bank on smartphones in North America. ”When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc.,” said Nokia President Chris Weber in an interview with AllThingsD. “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 continued, “We’ll develop for North America and make the phones globally available and applicable. In fact, evidence of that is that the first Windows Phones that will ship are being done by our group in San Diego.” Nokia is expected to launch its first Windows Phone-powered smartphone later this year.
