www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Nokia, the world’s largest mobile handset manufacturer, intends to capture the CDMA smartphone handset market which will further boost its weak presence in the US mobile market. The operator wants to sell its handsets to throug large carrirs like Verizon and Sprint.
“We are the incumbent in the world at large,” Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo reportedly said, “in the U.S., we are the underdog.”
The handset manufacturer’s mobile handset market share in USA stood at 7.9%, up from 6.5% in the first quarter of 2008. Two of Nokia’s flagship smartphones–the 5800 XpressMusic and the N97–are available in the United States, but not through a Tier 1 carrier. Regional carrier Cincinnati Bell sells the 5800 for for $149 with a two-year service contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate, and the N97 is available unlocked for $700. However, AT&T Mobility did launch the company’s E71x phone earlier this spring, marking a rare bright spot in Nokia’s U.S. efforts.

To address the company’s U.S. gap, Nokia is looking to tap the CDMA market. “We are investing in CDMA,” Kallasvuo said. “It is our ambition to come out with a smartphone in CDMA.”