Nokia’s just published their Q3 2011 financial results, and while they’re not great, they’re better than a lot of us thought they’d turn out. When it comes to profits, Nokia didn’t make any between July and September of this year. They lost 71 million Euros. Compared with the 487 million Euro loss in Q2 2011, that’s a significant improvement. Now as for devices Nokia shipped 106.6 million mobile phones, down 3% from the same quarter last year, but up 20% from Q2 2011. Out of those 106.6 million devices, 89.8 million of them were feature phones, which is up 8% compared to last year and up 25% compared to the previous quarter. Sales of smartphones hit 16.8 million units, up 1% compared to the last quarter, yet down a shocking 38% compared to the same quarter last year. Nokia is amazingly now behind Apple and Samsung in terms of smartphone shipments. Here’s where the pain and suffering really kicks in. The average selling price (ASP) of a feature phone Nokia sold in Q3 was 32 Euros, down 11% compared to last quarter and down 20% compared to the same quarter last year. The ASP of a Nokia smartphone in Q3 was 131 Euros, down 8% compared to the last quarter, and down 2% compared to last year. Yikes.
In a note to investors, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop says he’s “encouraged by the progress we made during Q3”, that the Finnish handset vendor shipped 18 million dual SIM devices in Q3, that we will indeed see Windows Phone devices this quarter, though “in select countries”, and he ends his letter by saying the company is starting to see signs that things are improving. We’ll have to see how Nokia performs during the crucial holiday shopping season before believing that.
Just a quick reminder, in just 6 days from now Nokia will hold an event in London dubbed Nokia World. It’s been confirmed, by multiple Microsoft employees, that they’ll be several Windows Phone Mango devices announced there. We believe they’ll be 3 models.
[Additional Reporting: All About Symbian]