Nokia

Nokia sold only 600,000 phones in North America in Q1 2012

posted by Victor H. / Apr 19, 2012, 6:09 AM

Nokia sold only 600,000 phones in North America in Q1 2012

Nokia has posted some devastating financials in the first quarter of 2012 - operating losses widened to the catastrophic $1.8 billion in the first trimester, but what’s interesting is that the company also revealed its sales in the US. The exact number? Nokia sold only 600,000 handsets in Q1 2012 and that’s not just the US, but the whole North American market, including Canada as well. Not only that - it’s not even 600,000 Nokia Windows Phones, but rather 600,000 phones in total including Nokia feature phones and Symbian devices which are still sold at some rare US retailers.

That’s definitely not the high flying start Nokia and Microsoft had hoped for, but at the same time Nokia seems content with its US momentum.

“We exceeded expectations in markets including the United States, but establishing momentum in certain markets including the UK has been more challenging,” Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop said. Our guess about this mysterious momentum is as good as yours.

“We have a clear sense of urgency to move our strategy forward even faster,” Elop also underscored the importance of the situation.

Overall, Nokia device sales in the US fell 34% year-on-year in the first three months of 2012.

source: Nokia, Asymco

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40 Comments

1. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

What is the story about dog food? Heavily promoted, manufacturer outreach to distributors (to include a bounty paid for each can sold), but the dogs hate the dog food.... The only thing helping MS/Nokia is RIM's implosion.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 6:15 AM 3

21. hepresearch unregistered

As much as I hate to say it, and as much as I have lately been more hopeful for Nokia, I have to admit you appear to be correct. I can't put enough perfume on this to make the stench of impending corporate death go away anymore. Been putting the lipstick on it, only to figure out it really has been a pig all along, ever since Feb 2011.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 8:45 AM 1

2. Joshing4fun

Posts: 1244; Member since: Aug 13, 2010

Of course they did horrible for Q1 here in the states. The only Windows phone they had was the 710 on T-Mobile. Neither are very popular. They just launched the Lumia here so Q2 is what will be important.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 6:50 AM 8

12. MickDM

Posts: 63; Member since: Nov 29, 2011

agreed! i love the way stats are skewed (or mysteriously missing...to coin the phrase from vh above) from pa/vh articles in opposition to ms/wp/nokia/vzw...ijs

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:46 AM 3

15. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

but still 600,000 is very very low no matter how someone tries to twist...have always been a fan of nokia so want them to do well even though i dont have there phones anymore.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 8:12 AM 2

26. MickDM

Posts: 63; Member since: Nov 29, 2011

taz89, i see your point, however the fact that there were no NEW major wp8 hardware releases in na during Q1 is the missing information to which i was referring. t-mobile (the smallest carrier in na) was the only carrier release NEW vs. REFRESHED hardware. i believe Q2 will tell a different story (as long as the stats are not skewed).

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 11:04 AM 0

3. RaKithAPeiRiZ

Posts: 1488; Member since: Dec 29, 2011

if nokia stays with MS it won't be much of a hit as we think , windows 8 will be trumped by iOS 6 and Android 5.0 , only escape they will have will be to go all out on Meltimi/linux

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 6:56 AM 4

5. Veigald

Posts: 290; Member since: Jan 13, 2012

Always great to get business insights from tween/teen fanboys.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:26 AM 5

9. eaxvac

Posts: 328; Member since: Jan 15, 2012

Yeah indeed

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:42 AM 2

10. eaxvac

Posts: 328; Member since: Jan 15, 2012

Think of how thin the profit margin it would be if Elop choose Android over Windows Phone.. And people buying Android don't always go back to the same manufacturer. Look at how hard HTC fell, Nokia will be doomed if they did that. Elop is smart, the market nerds more competition.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:44 AM 6

23. 99n100

Posts: 16; Member since: Apr 06, 2012

Putting all egg into one WP basket is Elop a smart businessman? LG, HTC and Sammy have produced WP too. Why are they not competing with Nokia in WP phone and go all out to support Android? I’m sure they have done their home work.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 9:56 AM 1

28. Pdubb

Posts: 249; Member since: Aug 08, 2011

They produce Windows phone as part of an agreement. They barely promote WP7 devices and the Nokia push will only help them sell more WP7 devices. The Android scene is crowded and Nokia made the best choice. HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and anyone else that wants it all have an Android phone. Nokia has crowed about being the first true WP7 phone and they have a small point. They are the first ones to be proud of the platform.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 11:23 AM 2

4. FoneAddict

Posts: 263; Member since: Jul 05, 2011

The beginning of the end for Nokia as we know it.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 6:58 AM 3

6. bragzter

Posts: 53; Member since: Feb 21, 2012

And the one device that the world (including the U.S.) was the N9 and Mr Elop refused to offer it worldwide. Even though he said that the Windows Phone strategy is long term, the N9 could have been helping to raise their bottom line right now

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:40 AM 3

7. GENARAL.LEVY

Posts: 93; Member since: Apr 17, 2012

Good luck to Q2

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:40 AM 3

8. linas_ltu

Posts: 32; Member since: Apr 19, 2012

they could compete with everyone if they have android

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:41 AM 6

11. eaxvac

Posts: 328; Member since: Jan 15, 2012

Another lame fanboy

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:45 AM 4

16. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

how was that a fanboy comment...the carriers themselves said the exact same thing or are the carriers also fanboys now lol...

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 8:13 AM 3

33. SleepingOz unregistered

You are the biased fanboy!

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 12:38 PM 1

40. TROLL

Posts: 4851; Member since: Apr 13, 2012

Rright.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 3:21 PM 0

39. TROLL

Posts: 4851; Member since: Apr 13, 2012

Yea look whose talking... Eyepomme! Go and enjoy UR ios restrictions!

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 3:18 PM 1

19. GENARAL.LEVY

Posts: 93; Member since: Apr 17, 2012

Rright.....

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 8:30 AM 1

34. DroidZ

Posts: 8; Member since: Apr 13, 2012

Compete? You mean with their lame single core Qualcomm or their GPU? Even their Camera sucks it lags in low light and i don't know what about all the hype for Nokia Camera it didn't win any awards as i recall Galaxy S2 won best phone camera Nokia sucks so much i hope they die soon

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 1:03 PM 1

35. hepresearch unregistered

I will never hope for the death of Nokia... but they inevitably will die, regardless. Such a shame.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 2:12 PM 1

13. Bluesky02

Posts: 1439; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

And finally Android fanboys rejoice, loaded with their headshot comments, that Nokia is doom or Nokia should dump WP and use Android. Duh...

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 7:47 AM 2

17. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

most my phones apart from the last 2 have all been nokia symbian phones...im not saying they should ditch wp but maybe make android aswel...as a previous symbian user i would jump into android rather than wp as android and symbian are similar to one another and are just as customisable so the transition is easy where as for symbian fans to move to wp the transition is much harder as they work or look nothing alike...not saying all symbian users are like that but my guess is that maybe majority of symbian users have allready jumped to android or ios and if a nokia android device they would use a nokia android device instead of any others...clearly if symbian users were happy with moving to wp then it would have shown in the market share ie while symbian shares go down wp shares go up but thats not the case which tells me that symbian users are not jumping into wp...hopefully wp8 changes things for the better cause if nokia go down or get brought out it would be a sad day in the mobile world...hopefully wp8 is less restrictive and more customisable cause at the moment ios is more customisable than wp7.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 8:22 AM 2

29. Pdubb

Posts: 249; Member since: Aug 08, 2011

You have a good point however there was only one Nokia WP7 device really. Neither had a ffc and they both had small screens.(~3.5) The Lumia 900 was the real push and from there they should be judged.

posted on Apr 19, 2012, 11:33 AM 2

32. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

hopefully the lumia 900 changes things but dont think it will as it is just a bigger lumia 800..think we may not see any real changes until a nokia wp8 with pureview camera is out which i will be interested depending on how good wp8 turns out to be...at the moment i dont hear many people mention nokia anymore let alone wp.i hear more about blackberry and they are suppose to be also going the way of the dodo so thats saying something...