Nokia Q1 2009 Results

Nokia this morning reported major falls in both its financial performance and its phone market share for the quarter. The Finnish cellphone maker's operating profit has dropped from slightly over $2 billion in early 2008 to just $72.4 million in early 2009 based on a significant decrease in sales income, which dropped by 27 percent year-over-year. Much of this is attributed directly to a 19.3 percent plunge in cellphone shipments from 115.5 million phones in the first quarter of 2008 to 93.2 million for the same period this year.

The company also expects its overall market share to have shrunk in the same space, falling from 39 percent to 37 percent on estimates that the total phone market shipped 255 million phones between January and March. Its average selling price declined dramatically from $104.07 to $85.62 as economic conditions skewed towards less expensive devices. Most of the drop is blamed on dropping share in relatively poorer regions such Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and southeast Asia.

In smartphones, Nokia has also seen a decline; although the number of the advanced devices shipped has gone up from 33 million to 36 million in the past year, Nokia's own numbers dropped from 14.6 million to 13.7 million. The shift leaves Nokia with 38 percent of smartphones.

The company accounts for its larger decreases as the result of an "exceptionally tough" economic environment and says that it had let stores and other supply channels clear out existing stock. No explanation is provided for its continued decrease in smartphones, though the company has yet to produce more than a single touchscreen phone, ceding territory to devices like Apple's iPhone, and has had to contend with surging share from at least Research in Motion, which shipped 7.8 million BlackBerries in its own December-through-February quarter.

In spite of the decline, Nokia claims a number of gains that include slight increases in share for its home region of Europe as well as its historically underserved North American business. It also supports claims of a successful 5800 XpressMusic launch and says it shipped 2.6 million of the touchscreen phone during just the quarter alone, and 3 million since the phone was launched late in November. The company also hopes that the expansion of the Comes With Music unlimited subscription service, as well as its Ovi Store for apps and media, will help improve its bottom line independently of specific phone sales.

By Electronista Staff