Nokia, once the undisputed champion of the mobile handset arena, has been struggling in recent years as others such as Apple and Samsung managed to scoop the major part of the mobile market. Even the Lumia line-up, the last hope for Nokia, seem to be failing as the company has reported abysmal quarterly results and a huge loss.

The Lumia smartphone line-up has been Nokia’s last resort. The company has invested heavily into the venture, partnering closely with Microsoft to make the Lumia platform a success. However, so far, this doesn’t seem to be happening.

During the second quarter of this year, we saw the total Lumia smartphone sales surge to 4 million units, which hinted that the company may finally have a future in the smartphone market. However, the results of the 3rd quarter this year are in and Nokia has failed on many counts.

The first and the foremost revelation in these results is that rather than bumping further, the sales of Lumia smartphones have declined. From sales of 4 million units in the second quarter, the company is down to 2.9 million units in the third quarter.

Naturally, that has dashed the hopes of many who were expecting that the company may come around. According to an analyst with a research firm in England, “This is probably the first time that I have started to doubt the Nokia comeback story. These numbers were poor and worse than I expected.”

As a result of the decline in sales, Nokia has ended the quarter with a total loss of €969 million. One of the primary reasons why the company suffered from a decline in sales is that the next Windows Phone OS, Windows Phone 8, is expected to be released later this year. As a result, potential Lumia buyers have decided to hold out and wait for Windows Phone 8 to land on the Lumia devices rather than buying the current models.

The current Lumia smartphones are capable of running Windows Phone 7.8 but are not equipped to handle the potential new OS release from Microsoft. With Windows Phone 8 due to be released soon, the consumers naturally don’t see much value in going with the existing Lumia handsets.

Nonetheless, Nokia executives are still hopeful and predict better days ahead. According to the company’s chief executive, Stephen Elop, “Next year is going to be a very interesting year. A number of operators around the world are increasingly frustrated with the two strong ecosystems in their shops today. As they see a full portfolio of products with Lumia from Nokia, this will represent for them a credible third alternative.”

Source: NYT

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