Nokia's rather painful public transformation continues. The latest quarterly figures are incoming, and the company is warning of a 3% loss over the first three months of the year – worse than the already bleak -2% to break even ballpark previously expected.
In terms of handset sales, the Windows Phone revolution continues at a decidedly gentle pace. A total of 2m WinPho Nokias were sold in Q1, still way down on the 10m figure achieved by its unwanted Symbian range.
That, let's not forget, comes more than a year after Nokia boss Stephen Elop announced that Symbian was a burning platform and Windows Phone was the future. Doesn't seem to be burning particularly quickly, does it Stevo?
Anyway, rightly or wrongly Symbian represents Nokia's past, and Windows Phone and the Series 40 feature phone OS are its future. Problem is it's not going too well no matter how you look at things.
Cue Elop and some undiluted marketingspeak via a statement: “Our disappointing devices & services first quarter 2012 financial results and outlook for the second quarter 2012 illustrates that our devices & services business continues to be in the midst of transition.
“Within our smart devices business unit, we have established early momentum with Lumia, and we are increasing our investments in Lumia to achieve market success.
“Our operator and distributor partners are providing solid support for Windows Phone as a third ecosystem, as evidenced most recently by the launch of the Lumia 900 by AT&T in the United States.”
The full earnings report is expected next week, but whatever the details are, one thing remains clear: another three months have passed, and we're still waiting for any meaningful signs of the big Nokia turnaround Elop keeps promising is coming.
