Nokia confirms huge €1.3bn loss as UK Lumia sales hurt firm

Stephen Elop admits to mixed sales of flagship devices as Finnish firm's woes continue

Nokia has unveiled its financial figures for the first quarter of 2012, highlighting the firm's struggle to turn around its fortune's in the face of tough market competition and apathy from the market to its Lumia devices and the Windows Phone platform.

The firm had already warned investors to expect poor figures in a preliminary earning's note released earlier this month, in which it confirmed some two million sales of its new Lumia devices.

On Thursday, Nokia confirmed that sales for the quarter had plummeted 29 per cent year-on-year, to €7.3bn, leading to operating losses of €1.3bn.

The firm also warned that its results for the second quarter of 2012 are unlikely to be much better, citing the tough competition in the market and the time to market of new devices as hampering its ability to generate strong sales.

Chief executive Stephen Elop acknowledged the results were disappointing and cited tough market conditions, particularly in the UK, for the lower-than-expected sales.

"We are navigating through a significant company transition in an industry environment that continues to evolve and shift quickly. We have faced greater than expected competitive challenges," he said.

"We have launched four Lumia devices to encouraging awards and popular acclaim. The actual sales results have been mixed. We exceeded expectations in markets including the US, but establishing momentum in certain markets including the UK has been more challenging."

The firm has recently launched its Lumia 900 device into the US market and with the phone also set to be available in the UK on 27 April, although this launch was hit by an embarrassing software glitch, causing more headaches for Nokia.

While Nokia has struggled to make an impact since its decision to use the Windows Phone platform, its rivals using the Android platform and Apple, have continued to generate huge sales, further weakening Nokia's position.

Tony Cripps, Ovum principal analyst, said the figures backed up widespread media reports that European carriers are unconvinced by Nokia's devices, but he warned such a stance was potentially self-defeating.

"There's little objectively wrong with many of the products competing with Apple, Samsung and Google/Android that greater customer awareness and a big budget marketing drive could not cure," he said.

"That's something European carriers need to do a great deal more to assist the underdogs with if they aren't to be the engineers of their own self-fulfilling prophecy of handing all power over their subscribers to the duopoly of Apple and Google."