Nokia signals China ambitions

"Nokia has a unique position within the latest Windows Phone 8 ecosystem. All our best work and resources is on the Windows Phone 8," Eichelmann said.

What's next?

Unlike other international smartphone players such as Apple that focus mainly on the North American market, Nokia has long positioned the Chinese market as its top priority.

Eichelmann said Nokia would be part of China's progression as it enters the fourth generation mobile network age. Rumors have circulated that China is likely to kick off the 4G commercial rollout in the second half of this year. China Mobile Ltd, the nation's biggest telecom carrier, is conducting large-scale 4G trials in 13 Chinese cities.

Eichelmann did not respond directly to questions as to whether Nokia would develop smartphones suitable for the Chinese homegrown TD-LTE 4G technology but did say: "Clearly that's something we will be part of."

In order to revive its Chinese market performance, Nokia has also started to cooperate with local e-commerce websites and expand its online sales in the country.

"Online shopping is booming in China," Eichelmann said. He emphasized the importance of e-commerce but said Nokia will not open its own mobile phone e-store, a step that Chinese rivals Xiaomi Corp and Huawei have already taken.

"Nokia will strengthen cooperation with third party e-commerce websites," Eichelmann said. All future Nokia devices will sell through online and offline channels in China simultaneously.

360buy.com, China's second-largest business-to-consumer e-commerce retailer, agreed to buy 2 billion yuan ($320 million) of mobile phones from Nokia this year.

About 30 million mobile phones were expected to be sold online in China last year, up 68 percent from 2011, according to a report issued by SINO Market Research. The growth rate is more than 10 times that for mobile phones that were sold in offline outlets during the period, according to the report.

shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn