Nokia reported a net loss and a fall in revenue for the third quarter, despite selling more phones than analysts had expected.
The company reported sales of €8.98 billion (US$12.33 billion), down 13 percent year on year, making a net loss of €68 million, compared to a net profit of €529 million a year earlier.
The company stands and falls with its phone sales. During the third quarter it sold 106.6 million phones, down from 110.4 million during the same period last year, but still more than analyst Geoff Blaber of CCS Insight had expected.
However, users paid much less for their Nokia devices: the average selling price dropped from €65 to €51.
“It is is clear that Nokia priced aggressively to drive volume,” said Blaber.
Although the lack of competitive smartphones is the main reason for Nokia’s current troubles, a lack of dual-SIM phones has also hurt the phone maker in the past. Now, however, Nokia’s introduction of dual-SIM phones for emerging markets has helped prop up sales, Blaber said.
Nokia shipped about 18 million dual-SIM devices in the third quarter, it said, allowing it to gain market share in places such as India, where dual-SIM phones are popular.
Nokia also sold 16.8 million smartphones during the third quarter, leaving the Finnish company once again behind Apple, which sold 17.07 million iPhones. A year ago, Nokia sold 27.1 million smartphones and Apple shipped 14.1 million iPhones.
More than eight months have gone by since Nokia announced its decision to go with Microsoft Windows Phone. Next week, the work the company has done since then is expected to bear fruit, as the company will likely announce its first product or products at the Nokia World event in London.
“In reality, what Nokia does next week will be more important that these results,” said Blaber.
The results were the “best-case scenario” for Nokia, and in London the company has to show how it plans to grow next year with the help of Windows Phone, according to Blaber.
Nokia said it will sell Windows Phone-based smartphones “to consumers in select countries later this quarter” and then “systematically increase the number of countries and launch partners during the course of 2012.”
