Nokia Q4 2010 Earnings. Nokia confirms 5+mil Symbian^3 phones shipped. Loses a lot of marketshare
By Staska on 27 Jan 11Another cellphone biggie is in with it’s quarterly and full year 2010 results. It’s Nokia.
And, after reading their earnings announcement press release I just have one word about it. Alarming.
Overall figures do not seam too bad – net sales increased 6% YoY and 23% sequentially to 12.7 billion Euro, devices&services sales grew to EUR 8.5 billion (4% YoY and 18% sequential growth). Nokia smartphone shipments were up 36% YoY and 7% sequentially, reaching 28.3 million units. And Nokia smartphone ASP increased noticeably for the first time in months – from EUR 136 in Q3 to EUR 156 in Q4. Nokia dumphone ASP started to trend higher too – from 40 Euro in Q4 2009, to 42 Euro in Q3 2010 and 43 Euro in Q4, propelling overall Nokia phone ASP from EUR64 in Q4 ‘09, to EUR69 in Q4 ‘10.
But looking and the mobile and smartphone industry as a whole, and the growth we’ve seen in the market in 2010, it is clear that Nokia wasn’t able to keep. Here’s a couple of very worrying points in the earnings press release:
- For the first time in years, if ever, Nokia shipped less mobile devices in the current quarter, then in a quarter a year ago. 123.7 million devices in Q4 2010 versus 126.9 million in Q4 2009. A 3% drop in unit shipments while overall market grew 12%. As a result Nokia’s global mobile market share went down 4% from 35% to 31%. All unit sales loses were concentrated in Nokia’s dumbphone stronghold, and in the regions were Nokia used to be exceptionally strong with their S30 and S40 feature phones. Nokia’s unit shipments in Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific dropped 9% YoY. The only bright spot seems to be China where Nokia grew 24%. I wonder how long that will last
- While Nokia smartphone shipments grew 36% YoY, this growth wasn’t able to keep up with the market. In fact, according to their own estimates they lost 9% of smartphone market, from 40% down to 31% YoY. The drop was particularly -7% – dramatic between Q3 and Q4. And this with Symbian^3 devices out there and shipping through most of Q4.
Well, at least Symbian^3 devices seem to be off to a promising start. With only one handset launched at the start of Q4 (Nokia N8), and others a month (C7) or two (C6-01) later, we just got a confirmation from Nokia PR that they have shipped more the 5 million of them in Q4.
Well, Nokia earnings conference call is coming up in a few minutes and we will be here to cover it live. Let’s see what positive spin Nokia execs will be able to put on those rather troubling numbers. Stay tuned:
If you liked the post, you might find these interesting too:
- Samsung Q2, 2011: no more then 16.7M smartphones shipped. It’s still #3, behind Apple and Nokia
- Nokia finally had a profitable quarter (Q4 2012), but its smartphone market share is still falling
- Most smartphones now have touchscreens; Android shipments grew 1074% YoY
- Nokia posts Q1 2010 results. And no, Symbian^3 and Symbian^4 are not delayed
- Samsung ships 31-36M smartphones in Q4 2011. Loses top smartphone maker spot to Apple
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