World market leader Nokia makes big U.S. push

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is No. 1 in handset market share worldwide, with almost 40% of units sold. But in the U.S., by most calculations, it ranks fourth. And with new products like Apple (NYSE: AAPL)'s iPhone, it may be hard for the Finnish company to make much headway in America.

But Nokia will try. The company understands, to some extent, why things have gone badly here. "We felt we could teach the U.S. market how we do business elsewhere, and frankly, that failed," Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's CEO told The New York Times. "Now we just want to act, based on the needs and requirements of the market."

Nokia may have an innovative way to beef up sales in the U.S. It has started its own music download service, which gives away a year of free downloads with the purchase of one of the company's phones. Nokia also has advanced GPS options built into a number of its smartphone products.

But music and internet-based service really do little to differentiate Nokia. If they are not options already offered by other handset companies or U.S. cellular carriers, they can certainly be duplicated. And that is Nokia's problem -- it may have very little new to offer.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.