Nokia beats (low) expectations

3Q results show net loss of €68m as smartphone sales fall 38 per cent. But analysts thought it would be worse.

Nokia pronounced itself pleased with numbers that would have horrified the firm three years ago, but you get the feeling that the company – and the market – is holding its breath until the big switch to WinPho, which should start next week at Nokia World.

In Q3, revenue declined 13 per cent to €8.98 billion euros, while handset shipments fell 3 per cent to 106.6 million units.

Within this, smartphones shipments slumped 38 per cent to 16.8 million units. Remember that Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones in its third quarter – and 4m of its new iPhone 4S in three days this weekend. Meanwhile Samsung sold 10m of its Galaxy SII device in five months.

Nokia made some progress in feature phones, with an eight per cent year-on-year increase in shipments to 89.8 million, and with strong sales of dual-SIM handsets. It also claimed to have ironed out some of its distribution issues in China.

According to Bloomberg, Nokia shares have fallen about 40 per cent since CEO Stephen Elop announced the move to the Windows Phone operating system.