Nokia used to be the most popular handset brand in Canada AFAIK. This was before he Japanese and Korean companies had any penetration at all in the 90's. Sony hadn't yet partnered with Ericsson either. Motorola was making super-fugly phones but was also a big name.

LG, Samsung, Sanyo, etc. started coming out with handsets every week, largely what I'd consider disposable crap, which the carriers just loved to rebrand. These became those $0 phones or the $10 phones which firmly cemented them as volume leaders. They made a huge rush with their generic and at one point ubiquitous, flip phones.

From a consumer perspective over here, it would have seemed like Nokia wasn't making handsets with as many features of flash. But in reality it was the carriers that simply stopped offering any type of variety in Nokia's line. A quick trip to Europe showed a lot more mobile variety. One, can say that Nokia didn't cater to North American taste, however, it was the carriers that shaped that taste toward the bland and poorly designed Asian products.

With few exceptions, Samsung, LG and the other Asian (non-smart) phones for North America are complete crap and always have been. The North American market isn't exactly discerning when it comes to this type of product. Well, when it comes to many types, but that's besides the point right now. And that's how the carriers l like it. Being able to release whatever garbage they want, rebranded to the 9's on a weekly basis to hide their shit rates with a low or no cost entry price.

I'm sure if Nokia had decided to start making ultra-crap handsets in 2002, the market would look at lot different in North America right now.