The Facebook IPO is expected to usher in a day of massive trading volumes on the markets, and some believe that might translate to a lift for some tech stocks. But one that could really use some help has just been served another course of bad press: Nokia is apparently burning through its cash reserves — fast.
The company, for years the biggest mobile phone maker in the world, has fallen on very tough times, as competition from companies like Samsung, Apple and a barrage of inexpensive device makers, have translated into declines in sales, market share and profitability.
That’s now translating into what has been identified as another issue: the burning of the cash pile. In the last five quarters, Nokia has burned through €2.1 billion ($2.7 billion) from its cash reserves. Analysts polled by Reuters on average believe that at the rate Nokia is going, it will go through another €2 billion ($2.5 billion) in the next three quarters, with the total current cash pile of €4.9 billion ($6 billion) gone within two years.
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This Nokia Lumia 850 is not real. It’s just a concept. But I would be proud to carry that phone in my pocket if it was real.
The concept comes by way of The Nokia Blog, a fan site that found the concept made by Luxembourgish designer, BrianMFB. The 850, that once again is just a mockup, shows a slimmed down Lumia 800 that still regains a lot of the original character. The backside has tappered edges and flush mounted side buttons. The screen is a modest 3.8-inch as a 950 would likely have a larger screen. → Read More
There are still some big question marks over what Nokia plans to do in tablets — a market where it is now possibly the only major smartphone maker yet to make a device — but at least Nokia is moving ahead with the launch of tablet-friendly services. Today, it said it would begin the global roll-out of Nokia Reading, a Windows Phone app originally announced back in February for reading e-books on a Lumia device.
The company says that initial countries that will get the app are France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK, with others following later this year. It is compatible with all four Lumia models: the 900, 800, 710 and 610.
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Windows Phone is way behind Android and iOS when it comes to apps — only about 80,000 apps compared to 500,000-600,000 each at the other two — too far behind to possibly ever catch up in actual numbers any time soon. So it makes sense that Windows Phone players cherry pick to ensure the best and most popular apps out there are on their platform. Today Nokia did just that: it announced deals with a raft of companies, including Box, Groupon, EA, ESPN, Rovio and more to add their apps exclusively to Windows Phone for Nokia’s new range of Lumia devices.
Announced at the CTIA event, the deals are an instance of Nokia leveraging the Windows Phone platform to offer content exclusive to users of its devices: services like Nokia Maps get rolled out to the rest of the Windows Phone footprint. → Read More
Nokia may be busy suing the likes of RIM, HTC, and Viewsonic over the infringement of a long list of wireless patents, but the Finnish company should watch their backs — now they’re the target of a class-action lawsuit from a shareholder because their plan to embrace to Windows Phone hasn’t yielded the right results.
But are they concerned about it? Not if their official statement on the situation is any indication — Nokia has just reached out to say that they are “reviewing the allegations contained in the complaint and believes that they are without merit. Nokia will defend itself against the complaint.” → Read More
As Nokia continues to try to turn itself around as a mobile phone business, it is also playing on the offense in the legal game: today it announced that it has filed fresh patent suits against HTC, RIM and Viewsonic in the a selection of courts in the U.S. and Germany.
The suits go to show that a company like Nokia has a lot more arsenal in its stores to fight against competitors as it struggles win business with consumers. The fact that it has so many patents among its assets also means that there is significantly more value to this company than just its handset business. → Read More
Reuters is reporting that Nokia is exploring selling the Vertu phone line to holding company Permira for $264.26 million, freeing itself from the difficult process of selling phones no one wants to people who should know better. Nokia called Vertu a “non-core asset.”
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Samsung has been, for years, slowly approaching Nokia as the world’s biggest handset maker, and today looks like the day the crown has been passed: As of last quarter, Strategy Analytics noted that Samsung shipped the most mobile devices of any single manufacturer world-wide, also taking pole position in smartphones. At the same time, Nokia not only slipped in those rankings but it also got another slap in the face, as Standard & Poor’s, the credit-rating agency, downgraded Nokia to “junk” status.
The news comes on the same day that Samsung presented its Q1 earnings, in which the Korean company reported revenues of 45 trillion won ($40 billion) for the three months that ended March 31 — citing strong results in the division that includes mobile devices, with especially “brisk sales” of its GALAXY S II smartphone and newer Galaxy Note device. → Read More
Financial fallout from last week’s Q1 earnings from beleaguered handset maker Nokia, which saw the company report declines in sales, profit and much else across the board: Fitch Ratings has once again downgraded the handset maker.
Nokia now stands at a BB+ rating from a previous rating of BBB- for its senior unsecured notes, Fitch writes in a statement. That puts the company’s stock at “below investment grade,” primary analyst Owen Fenton tells me, BBB- having been the lowest investment grade rating. Fitch further says that it has downgraded the company’s long-term issuer default rating, with the outlook on the long-term IDR now at “Negative” and that it may consider downgrading even further. → Read More
Nokia just rolled out a new browser for Series 40, Asha devices. Browser 2.0 as it’s called features numerous improvements and enhancements, but its cloud-based compression is arguably the most important. Nokia claims that it condenses data by up to 90% making pages load three times faster while reducing the data cost to the user. The updated browser also features a download manager, improved search and it also enables multitasking while browsing allowing users to quickly switch to text messages and the like. → Read More
As bad as Nokia’s financials look right now – a $4 billion drop in sales won’t make anyone’s day – don’t consider the Windows Phone move a failure just yet. They’ve done what many phone companies have thus far failed to do. They’ve changed swiftly with the times and, more important, they’ve done it in quite admirable way.
If you’ll recall, the first real Android phone was HTC’s G1. Considered a clunker by all but the most die-hard of users, the device sold fairly well, topping out at 1 million units in 2008. But the G1 did something more important than make T-Mobile the first Android carrier – it grabbed a certain user contingent who understood Android, understood the framework, and would follow the platform to the grave. The popularity of the G1 was a direct reaction to the burgeoning iOS platform. The same thing happened in the WebOS space, but WebOS was exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time and is a disaster distinct from the Android launch.
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Nokia warned us last week that it would be reporting some worse-than-expected numbers, and here they are: sales down by $4 billion (€3.4 billion) to $9.7 billion (€7.4 billion), with a corresponding fall in earnings per share, down by a quarter of a euro and now at a loss per share of just over $0.10 (€0.08).
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The Lumia 900 is an excellent handset, whether or not European carriers like it.
But it’s hard to imagine how Nokia and Microsoft plan to achieve a high level of penetration with the phone on a single carrier (AT&T).
Luckily for the partnership, it would seem as though T-Mobile will be getting the Lumia 900 over the course of the summer as well. → Read More
Nokia hasn’t had the best year. Of course, the launch of the Lumia line has been refreshing, as Nokia’s much-anticipated Windows Powered offerings are finally out in the world, trying to woo owners like neon-colored puppies in a pet shop window.
The only problem is that four of the major wireless operators in Europe have deemed Nokia’s WP phones “not good enough to compete with Apple’s iPhone or Samsung’s Galaxy phones,” according to Reuters. → Read More
Guys, this one’s such a no brainer that I shouldn’t even have to lay it all out. But I will.
The Nokia Lumia 900 is an excellent handset, comes packed with a fresh new operating system in the form of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and thanks to a nifty AT&T bill credit from Nokia, you can essentially get this $100 LTE-equipped phone for free until the 21st. Repeat: for free.
Like I said, this one’s a no brainer. → Read More
Nokia certainly didn’t waste any time when it came to fixing that pesky data connection bug that popped up in a few first-run Lumia 900s. Just two days after Nokia acknowledged the issue and pledged to make things right, they’ve already made that critical update available to those in need. In case you were keeping track, that’s a full three days before Nokia promised to have the fix in the field.
Not too shabby, Nokia.
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Nokia has been weathering a series of glitches around the launch of its Lumia range of Windows Phone devices — the most recent of which saw the company issue credits to users affected by data connection issues around the new Lumia 900. It is pressing ahead with new devices, though, and we have confirmed with sources close to the company that it will be launching its first NFC-enabled Windows Phone in Europe, at 1pm UK time today, along with a partnership with a European operator, France Telecom’s Orange. → Read More
Microsoft and Nokia have a lot riding on the success of their flagship Lumia 900 Windows Phone, but the usual new gadget honeymoon period has been cut short for more than a few unsatisfied customers. Shortly after devices started going home with their new owners, reports of dead data connections began appearing on Nokia’s support forums.
Well, Nokia knows about the issue and they’re not taking things laying down. AllThingsD spoke to Nokia U.S. chief Chris Weber, who stated that the company was hard at work on a fix and that Nokia would be issuing $100 credits to the bills of all Lumia 900 owners as a gesture of goodwill. → Read More
The Nokia Lumia 900 train is rocking. After its first stop in the US on Easter Sunday, the party moved north of the border where Rogers is now selling the supersized Windows Phone. However, in a few short weeks, the phone will hit the UK on April 27th through Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse. It can be pre-ordered today. → Read More
The most notable fruit of Microsoft and Nokia’s close working relationship is certainly the handsome line of Lumia Windows Phones, but the deal has had its share of fringe benefits as well.
Take its impact on Symbian for instance — Microsoft announced last September that they would be giving the platform a shot in the arm with the initially Windows Phone-only Office productivity suite, and now they’ve made good on their word with the release of their Microsoft Office Mobile apps. → Read More
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