By Allen Tsai | Thu Jul 22, 2010 5:39 pm |
Nokia said its second-quarter profit dropped 40 percent, as the embattled company continues to struggle in the fiercely-competitive smartphone sector, fueling speculation that its chief executive may soon lose his job.
The Espoo, Finland-based company said its profit fell to $290 million in the quarter, down from $490 million a year ago. Sales rose slightly to $7.8 billion from $7.7 billion. It had sold 111.1 million devices in the April-June period, up 8.0 percent in the quarter.Nokia continues to lead the global mobile market with 432 million units sold last year, but pressure from smartphone specialists Apple, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and Android developer Google have eroded its market share to 33 percent, down from 35 percent last year. "It's very clear that the smartphone segment needed more attention," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's chief executive. "We are confident Symbian 3-equipped smartphones will give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start our fight back at the higher-end of the market." Nokia is hoping its upcoming N8 smartphone, which is based on the upgraded Symbian 3 software, will jump start sales by the end of the third quarter. But analysts say the software isn't robust enough to beat the user experience of rivals such as the iPhone and the growing number of Android devices being released. Nokia has been slow at following new trends, like "flip-phone" clamshell designs and touch screen phones, and consumers have been expecting fresh products from the company that once released innovative devices. Since Kallasvuo took over Nokia's top job in 2006, a year before Apple entered the smartphone market with the launch of its iPhone, he has largely failed to improve its problems in North American, the company's worst performer, despite pledging to make the region a top priority. Earlier this week, reports have surfaced that he may soon be replaced. "This kind of speculation is not good for Nokia, and in one way or other we should be able to solve the problem to end the speculation," he said. Meanwhile, Nokia's struggling network business, Nokia Siemens Networks, continued to see earnings fall. Earlier this week, the company acquired Motorola's network business for $1.2 billion.
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Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:39 pm | By
Nokia's recent loss in profits highlights the company's difficult transition, as it shifts towards Windows phones and gears up for big changes in this year.
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Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:14 am | By
Nokia's Windows Phone-powered Lumia 900 will sell for $100 when it launches at AT&T later this year, according to reports, in a move that will raise the profiles of the maker and the OS.
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Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:30 am | By
Nokia shipped more than one million Lumia handsets last year, analysts estimate, signaling early success for the company's critical Microsoft partnership.
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Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:02 pm | By
Analysts predict a surge of sales for the Windows Phone platform, as Nokia and Microsoft head into the smartphone market in 2012 with updated hardware and plans for heavy promotion.
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