Nokia today quietly canceled their agreement with Sanyo to form a joint company for the creation of future CDMA phones. Nokia will cease all direct production and R&D for CDMA handsets. Instead, Nokia will only re-brand Pantech handsets, as they are doing currently to provide EV-DO phones for Verizon. Nokia has not provided any official comment as to why the deal was broken. Sanyo has yet to comment on the decision as well.
Nokia sources have referenced the CDMA market as “shrinking” in the long-term. Nokia also said they expect to lose $190 million in restructuring costs as part of the pull out from CDMA.
Update: Analysis at Sprint PCS Info
