Yesterday, Nokia announced its Q4 earning guidance; the company has estimated a strong quarter sales for its Windows Phone-powered Lumia models. As usually, low-priced Asha Smartphones played significant role in overall smartphone shipments in the last quarter. The company has reported that sales of Lumia models doubled in Q4 2012 over the previous quarter to 4.4 million units. Besides, the company’s operating expenses for Q4 last year also dropped that helped the Finnish handset manufacturer to improve its operating margins. However, the company will release its full-fledged earnings report for Q4 2012 on January 24 this year.
Nokia Sold 4.4 Million Lumia Smartphones
More importantly, Nokia Siemens Network also did better than expected in Q4 2012; the division is expected to report a non-IFRS operating margin between 13 and 15 percent for the fourth quarter 2012. However, Nokia has not given any revenue figure for the the division. The company has performed better in fourth quarter of last year (compared to Q3) due to strong performance of higher margin product categories and 4G network equipment.
Indeed, the quarter fourth is expected to be a solid quarter for the struggling Smartphone maker. The company is expected to deliver underlying profitability in Devices & Services and Nokia Siemens networks. In addition, the company sold a total of 14 million Smartphones in the last quarter. Out of which, 9.3 million were Asha Smartphones and 4.4 million were Windows-powered Nokia Lumia models.
However, Nokia has also said that it would be difficult for the company to hold operating margin to next quarter due to intensive competition in the mobile handset market. Industry dynamics could impact on the company’s Smartphone and mobile phones. On the other side, the demand of Nokia Lumia has continuously been ramping up, and the company has challenge to offset larger consumer demand in such wider economic environment.
Nokia has reported that the net sales of devices and service division in Q4 2012 contributed to $5.1 billion of the company’s total revenue. The company sold 86.3 million mobile handsets–sales of mobile phone accounted for $3.3 billion in revenue. Currently, the company is selling both Smartphones and traditional feature phones.
Nokia Confirms It’s considering Android In Near Future
This time, Nokia is committed to Microsoft, and this is the main reason why its has incorporated Windows Phone in its primary strategy. Before adopting Windows Phone in 2011, Nokia dismissed Android on the grounds that it would be difficult for the company to stand out its business from the crowd using Google’s OS.
It’s true, Nokia has paid huge in this amalgamation (with Microsoft). On the contrary, Android is dominating the global OS market which has helped Samsung to steal the top position in Smartphone market.
Last month, during an interview with a Spanish newspaper, Nokia’s CEO–Stephen Elop–was asked that whether or not the company is contemplating to work on Android platform. However, that time, the CEO didn’t mark any proper response to that question. But just a few days before, the CEO has explained that the company is considering a move to Android.
However, there is a war in the Smartphone segment for strong mobile ecosystem, and the company is struggling with Microsoft in this era. Apparently, the company does not want to jump to any other platform right off the bat.
It’s interesting to know that the company has finally opened the door for Android. It has also been noticed that there’s something wrong between Microsoft and Nokia this time. As Microsoft chose HTC’s hardware to show off at the launch of its Windows Phone 8, rather than Nokia Lumia 920, it clearly points out that the company wants to rely on some other hardware manufactures for making stronghold in the global market. It’s pretty much clear that Microsoft has jumped into Tablet manufacturing, and now, it’s also working on its own Smartphone project.
