Nokia posts somewhat disappointing Q4 2013 results, avoids revealing Lumia sales

[Windows Central]

[h=3]Nokia releases its financial report for Q4 2013, showing a decline in Lumia sales before passing the baton to Microsoft[/h]While both the media and consumers wait patiently for Microsoft to inevitably absorb Nokia's devices and services division, the Finnish company today published its Q4 2013 financial report. This latest report paints a rather bleak image of its Lumia family of Windows Phones. Simply put, Nokia (and Microsoft as both the operating system developer and financial partner) had a bad period to close off 2013. That said, it's not all negative and the Nokia we should see after the Microsoft deal will be a profitable company.

Full story from the WPCentral blog...

 

[monzki]

Of all the sites I've been, I wasn't expecting WPCentral to post an article that is discouraging to most users. Just look at the reaction in the comments, most are very negative responses.

I think we should encourage people. Q4 sales is #2 this year. That's far from bad. Moreover Nokia releases Lumia products that are not intended for a majority of people. The WPCentral 1520 review summarized that it is not for everyone. Even the 1320. And let's face it guys the 2520 is not that good because of RT. Lumia sales were more than doubled last year. That is very encouraging. Nokia hasn't release a true 920 successor yet, nor the the successor to the whole 92x series. The 1020 I believe is performing well.

Cheer up guys. Windows Phone has a very bright future. If not then why Sony is considering Windows Phone? Why Huawei keeps on releasing new Windows Phone? Why there's a bluebird phone? Why do we read rumors Samsung is releasing a high-end Windows Phone? Why Windows Phone has 200k plus apps. Why Asphalt 8 has become free? And so on...

:wink:

 

[dznk]

It does indeed seem as though most people are quite negative about this. I actually I don't see this as being too bad, considering what phones are currently being sold. Here's my personal opinion on what's what at the moment:

520 = Biggest seller, but it's been out for a little while now. Has it already peaked, in terms of unit sales?
525 = Unfortunately only available in a select few countries, so it was never going to outsell the likes of the 520.
925 = Nice phone, not stocked everywhere now. Isn't really a first choice for people looking to buy right now.
1020 = Stunning phone as we all know, but was never a high volume seller and never will be.
1520 = Again, a brilliant phone, but at 6", it's not (at the moment at least), going to be a mainstream device with high sales. Also the cost keeps it relatively low in terms of units sold. This phone is also hard to get hold of in some regions and also exlcusives bite into potential sales numbers.
1320 = At 6" and still fairly new and not available in some regions, was never really going to show up on sales figures.
929 (Icon) = Maybe it would help if this phone actually gets released. I can see this being a very popular phone in the US. Trouble again though... carrier exclusive.
Windows Phone 8 itself = Other than the GDR updates, not an awful lot has changed. WP 8.1 can't come soon enough. New devices alone can't do all the work, if the OS is not keeping pace.

With the above, you can see why Nokia didn't have brilliant sales. Thinking about it, over 8 million sold is not actually that bad. Of course, looking at Androids mammoth amount of units sold it looks tiny, and is, but as far as Lumia's go, not too bad. The thing is, from this point onwards, it needs to improve quite a lot, every quarter. Starting from MWC in February, things need to get moving quickly.

The 929 needs to come out, and MWC needs to announce phones for the masses at decent prices. As much as I love the 1020 and in some respects the 1520 falls into this category, they are not for everybody and hence, the number of WP's in the wild does not increase enough. MWC has to focus on phones that will sell in numbers in my opinion. Examples could include a true 920 successor, a 520 successor and a 720/820 successor. The most important thing to do though, is have these available worldwide, at the same time. Don't make the Asian countries wait 2-3 Quarters longer than Europe or vice versa, get them in peoples mitts worldwide as soon as possible. Also, these phones all need to be running with WP 8.1 out of the box, when they get released.

It's easy for me saying it here. For it to really happen in the real world there are always obstacles such as logistics, costs, Microsoft takeover to think about etc. But unless things like this start happening, we'll just sit here with 8-10mil units sold each quarter for the whole year ahead. MWC and 8.1 can't come soon enough.

 

[trivor]

The 520 is a superb device if you look at the value proposition - where else can you get a full featured smartphone, unlocked and usable on any prepaid GSM carrier for $60 - the answer is you can't and that's what makes it a best seller. The problem is the margins are so low it doesn't do a whole lot for profits for Nokia (or whatever MS is going to call their phone division). AND, we have yet to see if this will (long term) result in loyal WP customers that upgrade to one of the higher end Windows Phones. The big problem with Nokia (and even more so with MS) is that Android (with so many OEMs) is constantly coming out with the LATEST AND GREATEST (from someone - e.g. Samsung is talking about releasing an S5 as early as March/April - how are 6 month - 1 year old Lumias going to compete with the marketing blitz (and oh by the way the salespeople wanting to push new phones). The answer is MS needs to accelerate its release cycle which has not been great so far. And now you're starting to see real challengers from Android OEMs (e.g. the new Moto G from Motorola which lists for $179 BUT Verizon is selling it on its prepaid service for only $99 - no contract - but it's only usable on the Verizon network because of CDMA.

 

[tgp]

The 520 is a superb device if you look at the value proposition - where else can you get a full featured smartphone, unlocked and usable on any prepaid GSM carrier for $60 - the answer is you can't and that's what makes it a best seller.

Not to nitpik, but this statement isn't accurate. You can't get a 520 "unlocked and usable on any prepaid GSM carrier for $60." The $60 520 is AT&T locked. The factory unlocked 520 costs around $140 (in the US; I don't know what it costs in other countries).