Nokia reveals its Q2 financials

CEO Kallasvuo optimistic for the future.

Nokia has revealed net sales of €10 billion for the second quarter of 2010, up 1% year-on-year - although down 4% at constant currency. The company sold 111.1 million mobile devices in Q2, up 8% year-on-year, with 24 million of those being smartphones (up 42% in the same period). Nokia also posted Services net sales of €158 million in Q2, compared to €140 million in Q2 2009 - a 12.9% increase year-on-year. CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo - who's been tipped for replacement in recent days - said the results offer encouragement for the company. "Despite facing continuing competitive challenges, we ended the second quarter with several reasons to be optimistic about our future," he said. "For one, the global handset market has continued to grow at a healthy pace, led by some of the less mature markets where Nokia is strong. We are also encouraged by the solid second quarter performance of our Mobile Phones business, helped by an improving line-up of affordable models." What about smartphones though? That's the part of the business that Nokia has faced most criticism in recent months, particularly in the US. Kallasvuo addressed this too. "We believe that the Nokia N8, the first of our Symbian^3 devices, will have a user experience superior to that of any smartphone Nokia has created," he said. "The Nokia N8 will be followed soon thereafter by further Symbian^3 smartphones that we are confident will give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start Nokia’s fightback at the higher end of the market." Nokia estimates that it took a 33% share of the mobile device market in Q2 this year, down from 35% in Q2 2009. The company thinks its share of the smartphone market held at 41% over the same period. Nokia also gave figures for the average selling price of its handsets in Q2 of both years. From Q2 2009 to Q2 2010 its overall ASP fell from €64 to €61. However, for smartphones specifically, its ASP fell from €181 to €143. Some more stats: more than 17 million people have downloaded its free Ovi Maps navigation/mapping application; Ovi Store now has more than 13,000 'content items' (including apps), and its Ovi App Wizard has generated more than one million downloads in ten weeks since launch. Overall? We'll be digging deeper into the figures, but our initial reaction is this: you'd be forgiven for expecting Nokia's financial performance to have fallen off a cliff, judging by much of the media coverage of the company in recent months. The numbers say otherwise. Nokia undoubtedly faces serious, organisation-reshaping challenges at the moment, and the increase in Services revenues looks rather low considering the explosion in apps and mobile entertainment in the last year. However, on the basis of its Q2 figures, Nokia certainly isn't the dead man walking that it's been portrayed as.