MOBILE

While it's easy to associate Japan as a land flourishing in all that is electronic technology

, Finnish handset-giant Nokia has announced decision to pull out of the Japanese market permanently today.

Nokia will not only cease selling phones in Japan but will also end marketing campaigns as well. An early market leader, Nokia started selling mobile units in Japan way back in 1994, but witnessed a falling market share ever since (estimated at just 1 percent before today's announcement).

The mature Japanese market is dominated by local manufacturers. More surprising is that studies prove that unlike Americans, Japanese customers have little desire to upgrade or replace functioning devices.

Mobile sales in Japan have been falling since last year, when network operators led by NTT DoCoMo cut their subsidies on certain handsets, driving up prices for new handsets.

This news comes at a time where Nokia has issued profit warnings for the upcoming year as a result of slumping global sales in this period of economic downturn.