I was not aware of this. Well then, that makes sense now. Pfsht. What a tool I've been.

People, information gathered from most devices sold by Nokia is invaluable to their business, determines launch dates, schedules, order of countries, number of devices, hell, it is the basis of all Nokia marketing and distribution, design, milestones.

Haha. Not going to be fixed. Do you realize you're asking Nokia to turn off its headlights on a night country road? This information is worth a decent chunk of their income and determines their reaction to market changes. And by "chunk" I don't mean a few percent.

None of those were ever finished. Nokia deals in fireworks and company image. You get attention with new launches, not with good stuff. Shallow, shallow, shallow.

That's why they launch 10 phones a year, that's why the never finish anything. It's more of a marketing boost to launch a new tech than to finalize it. Keep launching, keep attracting attention.

This is 2010. People buy devices like jewelry. Logo on it is deeply important, I've seen people argue about manufacturer while never using anything above Contacts, Last Dialled and the red and green buttons. One can't afford to be out of the spotlight.

Do you really think iStuff would have any kind of market share if they were black, featureless, and Just Worked? No way. Low screen resolution, locked OS, bluetooth limitations, no pen.

The fight is for spotlight. It's no coincidence it's a theater out there, CEOs included.

Carriers are localized companies. They are founded in their respective countries, subject to local laws, and publishing this kind of info in most countries (US is funny) is going to get them deboned. Also, the carrier has this leash that we call radio license. They are not about to tug on that.

If Vodafone Romania sold some of its database to a 3rd party it'd be facing criminal charges and the person signing that paper (along with others) would be facing jail. Say what you will about corruption, but in high profile cases bribing simply doesn't work.

And it's not like it's jail they're afraid of - people escape judicial systems all the time, everywhere. It's the fines that I'm sure they find deeply unfunny. You can't get out of that, because that money goes to the state. If you want to keep doing business, you have to pay (or they take anyway). And it's not like these are people you can pay back later, if ever.

Asking the local carrier simply doesn't fly. They could at most tell Nokia how many they sold, which is bogus, because so few are sold through them. Plus, they get a number, not a log. Plus, no resale, no second hand, no usage.

No, they have to do it, because Nokia is not a company in your country, so there. If you don't like it, whatchagonnado? Ban Nokia? So what, they can afford to lose part of the country, and I say part because people would still buy by order. And back in Finland, well, I hear they are not exactly shaking in their boots.

I'd go as far as to say Nokia values the collection of data more than they value a market. Timing a release and molding their next device to sound like the next iStuff killer (and I stress SOUND LIKE) is going to net them more cash than a single country, with few if any exceptions. Especially a small-sale EU country, perhaps that's why US was partly spared.

Remember, the figures show them per-country market penetration, adoption rate, and per-device, per-OS sales graph. This is the stuff dreams are made of.