Nokia sales boosted by Lumia, climb by 50%

Nokia were once one of the market leaders however in recent years they have dropped off the radar, leaving the market open to Android and iOS devices. Two years ago Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO painted their future as a difficult battle to regain market share. He ditched the in house Symbian OS and partnered up with Microsoft. Things were not looking too good. Until recently.

Yesterday, Elop delivered a promising statement – a profit. Sales of their smartphone lineup, the Lumia which is powered by the Windows Phone OS grew by 50% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Elop even said that Nokia might be able to produce a 2 percent profit instead of posting a loss as analysts had initially thought.

The company will report their earnings on January 24th.

Elop said in a call with the press “While we definitely experienced some tough challenges in the first half of 2012, we are managing through these issues.”

Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst with IDC said “The Lumia smartphones are night-and-day different from Nokia’s old Symbian handsets. I think what we are starting to see now is what will be a steady turnaround in Nokia’s fortunes.”

In Q3 Nokia ranked at 10th in the smartphone sector behind Apple and Samsung who claim 50 percent combined. Nokia have generated a loss of 5 billion euros since Elop took over and have removed one third of their workforce. Elop sold their 540,000 square foot glass and wood headquarters in Espoo, Helsinki and leased it back. This generated the company 170 million euros.

Nokia turned their fortunes by advertising heavily in the United Kingdom and Europe to promote their Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones. This advertising campaign has helped boost sales significantly, resulting in the excellent Q4 report.

The company still lack a killer phone to tackle the high end market, currently dominated by the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S III. For Nokia however, the future is certainly looking brighter.

Kitguru says: Is this the first sign of a Nokia comeback?

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