I’d never dispute that right now, Nokia and the Symbian OS are heavy-hitters in the worldwide handset market. It’s a fact and one that’s reported each time there’s any mention of iPhone market share increasing. But as Apple watches its share grow, that growth has to come at someone’s expense. Nokia’s indirectly admitting that it’s coming at their expense: today, they’ve issued a statement that reduces their outlook for their own market share this quarter.

Earlier this summer, they expected their mobile device market share to stay status quo, but this new statement is a revision of their expectation. It’s interesting to note that the company feels the overall market will be down due to economic challenges, but that means you’ve got to be price-competitive and compete for the limited dollars in this market.

Unfortunately, Nokia appears to have no plans to reduce pricing on their handsets. Since many of their higher-end devices aren’t subsidized, at least here in the U.S., they don’t gain mass-market appeal. Instead, these powerful handsets are picked up by a limited number of power-users… and by The Mobile Gadgeteer. Matt hasn’t met an expensive phone that he hasn’t liked or purchased and then sold. So I wouldn’t expect a "fire-sale" of the new Nokia N96, for example. Nokia is saying that they will "not meet certainaggressive pricing of some competitors", so it’s not going to happen.

There’s no question in my mind that Nokia makes their share of great devices. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be enough in this market right now. Do you think this is the beginning of a declining trend for Nokia or just a blip on the radar?