Nokia to quit making CDMA phones

CDMA is clearly a shrinking market, and now it will be shrinking even further as Nokia announces plans to pull completely out of the market. GSM, the much more popular format is used by 70% of the world’s approximately 2 billion phones in use.

Though Nokia holds the number one spot in global handset sales, built on its strength in GSM which it helped to invent, the Finnish company has trailed in CDMA. It has tried to avoid using chips by Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research), but could not avoid paying significant technology licensing fees to the U.S.-based firm which holds most patents to the CDMA technology.

The fight with Qualcomm has been bitter and costly. The main reason that GSM has won out against CDMA? The usual suspect of price can be blamed. GSM technology has been cheaper, so it’s easier to sell to the end users.

Nokia is the clear number one in mobile phone sales with 35% of the market. They have set a goal to achieve 40% long term.