Finland based Smartphone makers Nokia has posted its Q1 earnings for 2012, reporting a 1.34 billion Euro ($1.76 billion) operating loss, as net sales of mobile devices declined by 38% on year, with Smartphones taking a 51% blow over the past 12 months. Last quarter Nokia net sales topped €7.35 billion ($9.65 billion) which was down 26% on its last quarter, with 11.9m Smartphones and 82.7 million mobile devices sold. “We have faced greater than expected competitive challenges” CEO Stephen Elop admitted, adding that “actual sales results [of Lumia Windows Phones] have been mixed.”
“We exceeded expectations in markets including the United States,” Elop said of Lumia sales, “but establishing momentum in certain markets including the UK has been more challenging.” Nokia blames “the strong momentum of competing Smartphone platforms relative to our Symbian devices” for its decline in Smartphone sales year-on-year, with lower seasonal demand ”which more than offset the sequential increase in Nokia Lumia device volumes” hurting them quarter-on-quarter.
“We are navigating through a significant company transition in an industry environment that continues to evolve and shift quickly. Over the last year we have made progress on our new strategy, but we have faced greater than expected competitive challenges.
We have launched four Lumia devices ahead of schedule to encouraging awards and popular acclaim. The actual sales results have been mixed. We exceeded expectations in markets including the United States, but establishing momentum in certain markets including the UK has been more challenging.
At the same time, the lower price tiers of our industry are undergoing a structural change, and traditional feature phones are challenged by full touch devices. As a result we are taking deliberate measures to continue to renew our Series 40 platform, and we plan to strengthen our line-up in Q2 2012. We are making investments in our Mobile Phones business unit aimed at addressing the gaps in our offering.
We have a clear sense of urgency to move our strategy forward even faster. We are pursuing step function changes by having launched the Lumia 610 and Lumia 900 in the first quarter, expanding market coverage, increasing advertising, introducing key customer-requested features and broadening our most successful go-to-market activities. At the same time, we have focused our efforts in the low-end of smartphones and feature phone asset to drive improved business results and conserve cash.
We are confident in our strategy and focused on responding urgently in the short term and creating value for our shareholders in the long term.”
