Nokia Q3 2010 devices up, share down

Nokia today raised concerns of growing problems in its summer quarter's results despite improving its fiscal stance. The company's revenues were up five percent to the equivalent of $14.4 billion and returned back to a $565.3 million profit after a loss a year ago, but it now expected to lose market share for all of 2010 where it had insisted it would hold its position for most of the year. The warning came in spite of smartphone sales spiking year-over-year by 61 percent, to 26.5 million, and its total phone numbers climbing a small two percent to 110.4 million.

The company's new CEO Stephen Elop didn't directly explain the new caution but admitted it was a "remarkably disruptive time" and that a change of strategy was due. Nokia would have to "reassess [its] role" and how it handles the industry, he said.

As part of the strategy, the company planned to reduce the number of tools it used for Symbian smartphones, focusing its attention around Qt and HTML5, and also "consolidating operations." The move will have the company cut 1,800 extra jobs worldwide beyond those that it had already slashed worldwide.

Most of Nokia's attempts to turn around its smartphone share this year with Symbian^3 have yet to bear fruit, since the N8 only began shipping at the very end of the summer while phones like the C6 and C7 as well as the E7 are only arriving within the next few weeks.

The company's results nonetheless will likely have cost it market share, as its now second-place rival Apple sold 91 percent more iPhones in the summer than a year ago, indicating that it would have taken share from its Finnish opponent. Google's Android platform has yet to be quantified for the period but has been rapidly rising and would also have been likely to have drained Nokia's market share.

By Electronista Staff