Nokia has reported its Q3 2009 results and it reported an operating loss of 426 million euros compared to an operating profit of 1.5 billion euros Q3 2008. This is said to be Nokia’s first quarterly loss in over a decade.This is mainly due to a goodwill write down for Nokia Siemens Networks (1.17 Billion Euros). Nokia’s devices and service division’s profits were EUR 785 million, up 3% from the previous quarter, but down 50% year on year.
There has been a 20% drop in sales year over year mainly due to recession.
This loss highlights the fact that Nokia haven’t been able to bring better handsets faster to the market than it’s competitors. Another problem is the lack of trust of the brand in North America where Apple has captured a huge market share with the iPhone. Nokia is seeing great growth in Europe and Middle East. Asia saw 30.5 million units being shipped and this is the Finnish handset maker’s stronghold.
They shipped 4.5 million Nokia Nseries phones and 4.4 million Nokia Eseries phones during the third quarter 2009, down from the combined 9.3 million figure in Q2 2009. The scenario might change in the coming months with the launch of many new handsets including the Nokia N900 and N97 Mini which seems to be a success already with the amount of hype surrounding it.
And if you are still wondering why a phone announced in the beginning of the year is still not in stores is because Nokia is experiencing component shortages from suppliers. And this is reflecting very well in the sales figures. We expect Nokia to report a decent Quarter next time as its the festival season and also looks like recession is over in many markets around the world.