The first quarter numbers are in and it doesn’t look good for one of the largest mobile phone manufacturers, Nokia.
The Finnish phone maker posted unexpectedly low profits for its smartphones sales in the first quarter for this year which is very likely a direct result of its competitors’ models producing better devices – namely the iPhone, a slew of Android devices and the ever popular Blackberry.
Nokia posted a loss of £195.9 million with the company’s shares dropping 13 per cent.
The challenge Nokia is facing is due to the fact the its competitors are moving their stock around to appeal to different audiences. The iPhone for example, has been priced down to appeal to a broader mass market, making it much harder for Nokia to compete against.
In addition, Blackberry have changed their marketing approach and are now looking to shed the business suit for a more casual outfit to appeal to buyers who would not normally consider purchasing a Blackberry. And devices running the Android OS is quickly filling up the smartphone market with a plethora of choices from the entry level HTC Tattoo to the flagship Google Nexus One and Droid Incredible – effectively spoiling the market with some pretty good choices.
Even Microsoft is nibbling off Nokia’s smartphone pie with its youth-centric, social media friendly KIN devices and a series of Windows Phone 7 Series smartphones coming later this year.
It is indeed shaping up to be interesting times ahead for gadget junkies in 2010 as the was or the devices looks like its just getting started.
Official numbers from Nokia here.
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