“Nokia Oyj’s attempt to spearhead its comeback via the U.S. is falling short as its Lumia smartphones are failing to stop consumers from snapping up Apple Inc. iPhones and handsets running Google Inc.’s Android software,” Adam Ewing reports for Bloomberg.
“Nokia shares fell for a second day after the Espoo, Finland-based company said yesterday it sold about 700,000 handsets in North America in the holiday quarter, a fraction of the tens of millions of iPhones and Android handsets sold in the period,” Ewing reports. “Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop has identified the U.S. as a key market in Nokia’s global turnaround, and last year lined up AT&T Inc., the second-largest U.S. carrier, to sell its flagship Lumia 920.”
Ewing reports, “So far Nokia has failed to communicate why people should switch from Apple and Android handsets, said Louis Landeman, a credit analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Stockholm. ‘Customers just don’t have a natural attraction to the name,’ Landeman said in an interview. ‘The 700,000 unit sales in North America needs to improve if Nokia is ever going to have a chance to boost its market share.'”
“Nokia also reported a seventh straight drop in quarterly sales and omitted a dividend for the first time in at least 143 years to retain cash for its comeback attempt,” Ewing reports. “Lumia unit sales globally rose to 4.4 million in the fourth quarter. Apple said this week it sold 47.8 million iPhones during the period… Smartphones running Windows Phone, including the Lumia, probably accounted for 3.6 percent of purchases at AT&T during the year-end holiday quarter, according to researcher Kantar. The iPhone accounted for 75 percent, or 20 times more.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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Microsoft’s beleaguered Nokia Lumia sales fall 28 percent, North American sales cut in half – October 18, 2012
Thermonuclear War: What would happen if Apple buys Nokia? – October 9, 2012
I like their strategy…I like it a lot.:)
By the Market’s wisdom and logic, Nokia’s stock price should have soar up to the sky instead. Strange.
Bullshit.
Nokia phones’ sales improved quarter to quarter. Nokia itself turned a small profit for Q4. Yes, there were layoffs and consolidations. But, they aren’t going anywhere. They will still remain in the game. And, even though I have no desire to own one, their products are very respectable.
You bash everyone else, but Apple just lost 20% of its value. It doesn’t matter how it lost that value. The fact remains that Apple lost 20% of its value.
The smart phone market is rapidly maturing. Meteoric growth is no longer possible in this sector.
The stock market devalued Apple because its growth has slowed from about 75% per year to around 20% this year. Still phenomenal, but in no way akin to a $1100 price per share like you’ve all been pipe dreaming about.
And U wanted to say?
I disagree in that Apple has yet to fully realize all the upside from being in all of China’s phone markets so another meteoric rise is possible. And if the iPhone keeps taking Android share as it has here in the States.
Agreed.
My girlfriend just got a lumia 820 and it is a seriously good phone. My contract is up for renewal in a couple of months and on the absence of a big screen iPhone I’ll be getting a 920.
Epitaphs anyone?
“Customers just don’t have a natural attraction to the name”. Yes, that is the problem. It is the product name not the product, lack of apps, no local support, no long term future for a dead device OS, … Yes, it is the name!
Clueless idiot.
Apple sold 700,000 fewer iMacs in the quarter; Nokia sold 700,00 Lumias. It looks like Nokia phones are cannibalizing Apple’s Mac sales!
To read more of my hard-hitting analysis, visit my blog at shoveling.it
Nokia is not dead, despite Elop’s best efforts. emerging markets still buy inexpensive mobile phones at much greater rates than smartphones. With Nokia’s hardware design expertise, they can still offer surprisingly reliable products at low price points. Sadly, they are now burdened with an expensive and uncompelling OS.
That being said, Apple needs to find a way to show how the iPhone is a better value than cheap plastic phones. For a lot of people in the world, that message is not clear. Instead of focusing only on the US market, Apple is going to have to pay attention to the other 90% of the world who aren’t bent over and reamed by the corrupt US service carriers.
Before the first iPhone I was an intense fan, couldn’t wait for its debut. Then before the first Android I was waiting again for the Google miracle without a walled garden.
And now? I just bought a Nokia Lumia 920 because it is the best smartphone on the market. But the killer over the next year will be the Nokia Lumia 620 which you can buy for $289 unlocked right now in the US with NO advertising and it is selling well.
Nokia is on China Mobile with a subsidy of 99.9%. It cost ONE YUAN. If Apple doesn’t make a deal with China Mobile soon Nokia has the chance to make a killing with the 920T and 620. If Apple DOES make a deal with China Mobile it could be even worse since it may be a very bad deal that affects Apples iPhone margins worldwide.
Forbes in an article called Phone Wars says that Cook seems to be operating in “panic” mode. Not a good mode to negotiate from.