Nokia Q2 Finances Revealed: Profit Down But Smartphone Sales Up

Nokia's financial results for the second quarter of 2010 are out, and it's a mixed bag.  Despite the doomsday predictions, sales of Nokia devices – both smartphones and mainstream handsets – are up, with 111.1m units shipped (an increase of 8-percent compared to the same quarter twelve months ago, and up 3-percent from Q1 2010); smartphones in particular (or "converged mobile devices" as Nokia refers to them) saw volumes rise 42-percent year-on-year to 24m units.  However, the flip side is a reduced average selling price per device, which cut into Nokia's profits; Devices & Services' operating profit was down to €643m ($820m), a 16-percent fall in comparison to the same three month period a year ago, while overall net profit was €221 ($282m), down from €380m ($485).

Net sales of mainstream cellphones actually fell by 4-percent year-on-year, also cutting into profits, and the company doesn't expect that to particularly change over the rest of the year.  In fact, they're still predicting that their overall mobile device market share will be lower in 2010 than it was in 2009; that's put down to "the competitive environment, particularly in the high end of the market."

"In smartphones, we continue to renew our portfolio. We believe that the Nokia N8, the first of our Symbian^3 devices, will have a user experience superior to that of any smartphone Nokia has created. The Nokia N8 will be followed soon thereafter by further Symbian^3 smartphones that we are confident will give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start Nokia's fightback at the higher end of the market" Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia

Meanwhile the Ovi Store is apparently seeing more than 1.7m downloads per day worldwide, with over 13,000 titles available.  What the company could really do with are some barnstorming high-end devices, and while Nokia's CEO is looking to the N8 to lead the charge we're hoping they can roll out MeeGo handsets sooner rather than later.