The Finnish mobile giant Nokia yesterday announced that it has lowered its first-quarter 2012 outlook for the key Devices and Services business unit. The company says it sold more than 2 million Lumia devices at an average selling price of approximately 220 Euros. The company estimates that at the end of the first quarter 2012, the company’s gross cash and other liquid assets were approximately 9.8 billion Euros. Stephen Elop, President and CEO of The Company, called the financial results for Q1 2012 ‘disappointing’.
As soon as the news spread Nokia’s share fell as low as 3.10 euros. The stock had already crashed more than 50 percent since Nokia announced in February 2011. The company sees its share 19 percent lower. “It’s a disaster,” said Thomas Langer at WestLB. “Shipments of Symbian devices are declining faster than we anticipated … (and) the ramp up of Lumia devices is not fast enough to compensate for the shortfall.” Ben Wood at CCS Insight said: “Nokia’s challenges have been exacerbated by rampant competition – notably Apple and Samsung, who are extracting a disproportionate amount of margin from the industry at present.”
