Nokia sales tumble overshadows Lumia pick up - Indian Express

Reuters : HELSINKI, Thu Apr 18 2013, 18:41 hrs The new Nokia Lumia 720, featuring the same camera lens as the higher end Lumia 920, is pictured during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. (Reuters) * Q1 net sales down 20 percent on year earlier * Lumia unit sales rise to 5.6 mn, up from 4.4 mn in Q4 * Sees Q2 phone unit margins worsening to minus 2 pct * Nokia shares fall as much as 12.6 pct A sharp fall in sales of Nokia's basic phones overshadowed a stronger performance from its Lumia smartphones in the first quarter, sending its shares tumbling. The results renewed pressure on Chief Executive Stephen Elop, who was hired in 2010 to turn the Finnish mobile phone maker around after falling behind rivals Samsung and Apple in the smartphone race. He made the controversial decision to switch to Microsoft's untried Windows Phone software in early 2011 and had said the transition would take two years, a period that's now over. Analysts said he was running out of time. "Basically, he has only the second quarter," said Mikko Ervasti at Finnish investment banking and wealth management group Evli. Nokia said it sold 5.6 million units of Lumia handsets in the first quarter, up from 4.4 million in the previous quarter and in line with expectations. But shipments of mobile phones slumped 21 percent to 55.8 units, a far steeper decline than the 8 percent fall that markets expected, with unit sales down in every region. As a result, overall net sales fell 20 percent to 5.9 billion euros from a year earlier, far short of the 6.5 billion euros forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. Sales at its equipment venture NSN fell 5 percent to 2.8 billion euros, weaker than expected, although its underlying profit was higher than expected due to restructuring. STAYING RELEVANT Nokia's future is seen as depending on higher-margin smartphones as a growing number of global consumers want access to apps such as Twitter from their handsets, but it also needs to protect its position in the basic phone market so buyers of its lower-end handsets don't defect to other brands when they eventually upgrade to smartphones. ... contd. ALSO READ Expatriate policies: India Inc set to hike staff international assignments, says Mercer Volkswagen passenger cars aims to double India market share and be worlds' No. 1, Land norms eased for SEZs to rekindle investors' interest MRF Q2 net profit jumps over 40% to Rs 210.61 cr Please read our terms of use before posting comments TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s). via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNH-UM8encf2LOo9HGRLplVgWFn6LA&url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nokia-to-trim-loss-as-lumia-sales-pick-up/1104279/

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