Nokia Announce Q3 Finances; Roll Symbian^3 And ^4 Into "One Constantly Evolving" Platform
Nokia has announced its Q3 2010 financial results, with device sales up 4-percent year-on-year to €7.2bn and smartphone shipment volumes up 61-percent and 10-percent sequentially. Net sales were €10.3bn, up 5-percent year-on-year and 3-percent sequentially. Meanwhile the company has announced that it is abandoning its Symbian^3 and Symbian^4 nomenclature, and will instead be introducing the updates planned for the ^4 platform as ongoing improvements to the existing OS. "It will be one constantly evolving and constantly improving platform" the company says, "we will no longer be talking about Symbian^3 or Symbian^4 at all".
"We're making strategic technology decisions that will accelerate our ability to offer the strongest possible opportunity for developers and the richest possible experience for consumers. For developers, it will open up a huge installed customer base for their applications. For consumers, it means a more compelling engagement with their Nokia product in terms of access to the best applications in the marketplace and a constantly improving product experience. We firmly believe that the choices we have made will not only mean significant opportunity and success for our developer partners, but for Nokia as well." Rich Green, CTO, Nokia
Nokia is also making Qt its sole application development framework, which will mean apps for MeeGo will run on Symbian and vice-versa, and "embracing" HTML5 for web content and applications. However the company still expects to see its mobile device market share drop in 2010 compared to 2009, having previously predicted no change, despite its expectation of industry volumes overall rising more than 10-percent.
Changes in Nokia's Symbian and Services divisions will see around 1,800 job losses as it attempts to streamline its product development and make Ovi more appealing across the board.
"Instead of distinct end-to-end service lines, the Services organization will be focused on delivering an integrated Ovi experience across our full range of devices. In addition to simplifying its ways of working, the aim is to provide more compelling Ovi services to consumers." Nokia
The Finnish company has seen a significant shake-up in their executive ranks over the past few months, with CEO Olli Pekka Kallasvuo fired by the Nokia board and long-standing VP Anssi Vanjoki quitting his role as smartphone chief. Most recently, the company's VP of MeeGo devices has left the company to take up a post at HP-owned Palm.