Nokia shutters its flagship China store

From CNET News.com: Nokia has closed its flagship store in China, once touted as its largest worldwide.

Nokia told ZDNet that the Shanghai store, which opened in 2007, shut down at the end of March. CNET also confirmed the closure.

"For a while now, Nokia has been focusing on growing its presence in operator and third-party retail outlets, rather than through our own physical stores," according to a company representative. "We are, of course, also continuously beefing up our online presence."

Nokia is shuttering the store even as it presses further to regain lost ground in China, considered one of its key markets in the company's turnaround bid. The company told ZDNet that it would increase its presence at its retail and carrier partners.

Despite the closure, Nokia clearly still has an eye to win back market share in China. At Mobile World Congress, the company unveiled two Lumia smartphones targeted toward budget-conscious consumers, with Chinese consumers in mind.

But the push comes amid a continued decline in revenue from the region. As with many other parts of the world, Nokia has struggled to offset the declines in its traditional Symbian phone business with its new Lumia phones. In the fourth quarter, the company saw its revenue in Greater China plunge 79 percent to $280.7 million year over year. Unit sales fell to less than 5 million from 14.7 million a year earlier.

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