Nokia Posts $1.38 Billion Loss in Fourth Quarter

[rdowns]

Ouch! makes RIM look almost healthy.

Nokia Posts $1.38 Billion Loss in Fourth Quarter

HELSINKI (AP) — Mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of euro1.07 billion ($1.38 billion) as sales slumped 21 percent even as the company's first Windows smartphones hit markets in Europe and Asia.

The loss compares with a profit of euro745 million in the same period a year earlier.

Nokia said net revenue — including both its mobile phones and its network divisions — fell from euro12.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 to euro10 billion, with smartphone sales plunging 23 percent.

Nokia has lost its once-dominant position in the global cell phone market, with Android phones and iPhones overtaking it in the growing smartphone segment.

The Finnish company is attempting a comeback with phones using Microsoft's Windows software — a struggle that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop characterized as a "war of ecoystems."

He said Nokia has sold "well over" 1 million such devices since their launch in the fourth quarter — in line with company expectations. The Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 hit stores in Europe and Asia in November while T-Mobile started offering the 710 in the U.S. in January.

"From this beachhead of more than 1 million Lumia devices, you will see us push forward with the sales, marketing and successive product introductions necessary to be successful," Elop said. "We also plan to bring the Lumia series to additional markets including China and Latin America in the first half of 2012."

The company's shares jumped more than 5 percent to euro4.28 ($5.60) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in early afternoon trading.

The company said it would not provide annual targets for 2012 as it was in a "year of transition" but added that it expects operating margins in the first quarter of this year to be "about break-even, ranging either above or below by approximately 2 percentage points."

It repeated the target of cutting costs by more than euro1 billion by 2013.

 

[maflynn]

But weren't they expecting such a rough go of it as they transition over to wp7?

As the article states, they're no out of the wood yet but they seem to be pointed in the right direction.

The only real question is this: will consumers embrace nokia/wp7 phones or is it too late because of iOS and android

 

[Rodimus Prime]

But weren't they expecting such a rough go of it as they transition over to wp7?

As the article states, they're no out of the wood yet but they seem to be pointed in the right direction.

The only real question is this: will consumers embrace nokia/wp7 phones or is it too late because of iOS and android

Yeah and based on the stock going up the investors knew that and the flagship device is going to be moving into more markets so sales should go up.

 

[roadbloc]

I hope they bounce back. No-one was predicting a quick recovery, it'll take time now to eat their way into the marketshare.

 

[maflynn]

I hope they bounce back. No-one was predicting a quick recovery, it'll take time now to eat their way into the marketshare.

If Microsoft and Nokia played their cards right, they could edge into the enterprise more as RIM falters. Its an opportunity that MS could exploit as many enterprises use MS enterprise solutions.

 

[neiltc13]

If Microsoft and Nokia played their cards right, they could edge into the enterprise more as RIM falters. Its an opportunity that MS could exploit as many enterprises use MS enterprise solutions.

While I really like the Windows Phone interface I think they need to make it a little less bright if they want to go after this market.