Nokia has announced official sales figures and company numbers for the 4th quarter of 2011, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Among the numbers is the fact that over a million Lumia phones have now found homes, but is that enough to compete?
The million Lumia devices is the headline piece of Nokia’s lengthy sales analysis, with upbeat words from CEO Stephen Elop. “The fourth quarter of 2011 marked a significant step in Nokia’s transformation,” he says. “In the war of ecosystems, clearly there are some strong contenders already on the field. And with Lumia, we have demonstrated that we belong on the field.”
Read our Nokia Lumia 800 review
He concludes that “it is my assessment that we are in the heart of our transition.” But is that really true? According to the stats, Nokia’s smartphone sales dropped 25 per cent from quarter to quarter, and 38 per cent year on year.
That’s not to mention that the million Lumia devices gets dumped on from very high heights by the iPhone 4S (of which more are being sold daily than there are people being born), and the Samsung Galaxy SII, which hit the 10 million mark in September 2011, just five months after launch.
That said, Nokia is starting to get things right again after a long time of false starts, and the Lumia series should develop into a real winner for the once ‘burning platform’.
