30 Nov, 2007
Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) has taken over the CDMA team of Nokia located in San Diego, USA, in attempts to further strengthen its partnership with the handset vendor, according to market sources.
FIH is facing strong competition from rivals such as Compal Communications, BYD and TechFaith. These companies are expected to begin shipping low-end CDMA handsets to Nokia in the first half of 2008. TechFaith is expected to ship GSM/CDMA dual-mode handset to Nokia, noted the sources.
To deepen its relationship with Nokia, FIH has taken over the company's CDMA team in San Diego. In the future, FIH will not only team up with Nokia on low-end products, but the company will also pursue orders for mid-range and high-end handsets too, added the sources.
Nokia has not solved its royalty disagreements with Qualcomm and the company's joint venture CDMA business with Sanjo has not worked out. Therefore, since the second half of 2006, the company has seen its market share falling sharply in North America.
In order to strengthen its position in the CDMA sector, Nokia has decided to outsource orders to reinforce certain CDMA markets during 2008. In addition to the low-end, Nokia will also target mid-range and high-end markets, the sources noted.