Telecom Lead America: Finnish handset maker Nokia
shipped 2.2 million Lumia smartphones in the quarter ended in March, according
to IDC.
The company is betting high on its Lumia portfolio to
regain its lost position of market leader. The company has been vying with
smartphone majors such as Apple and Android leader Samsung.
In order to solidify its battle with market incumbents,
Nokia introduced multiple variants in its Lumia range. Meanwhile, the company
plans to further expand its Lumia range by the end of third quarter of 2012.
So far, IDC said that the shipments of Lumia smartphones
are relatively small. Presently, the market for Windows OS based smartphone is
too small, which is expected to increase in coming years.
In comparison to the 35 million iPhones that Apple
sold to customers in a single quarter, 2.2 million Lumia smartphones
shipped seems too frail.
Recently, the company launched its NFC enabled Lumia
610smartphone. The smartphone is the first Microsoft Windows
Phone device that INSIDE Secure, INSIDE Secure, a semiconductor solutions
provider supported with MicroRead and Open NFC.
Apart from Nokia, Samsung and HTC have also launched
their Windows-based smartphones and are suffering from same issues.
It is too early to tell whether the Lumia line
would be an abject failure or an outright success, because the handsets have
yet to become available on more carriers in more countries. The next two
quarters would serve as a better measure of the Lumia line’s chances,” said
Kevin Restivo, an analyst at IDC.
Nokia posts 26% decline in sales in Q1 2012
Recently, Nokia reported 26 percent decline in net sales
at EUR 7.4 billion (including Nokia devices, Nokia Siemens and location
business) for Q1 2012, against EUR 10.4 billion for Q1 2011.
Nokia reported an operating loss of EUR 1.3 billion for
Q1 2012, against operating profit of EUR 439 million for Q1 2011.
The company has recently strengthened its Asha portfolio
with some new addition at competitive prices.
Windows Phone and BlackBerry to share lead position in Asia
Pacific enterprise smartphone market by 2016
Recently, Ovum predicted that Windows Phone will be the
biggest achiever in terms of smartphone shipments in the Asia-pacific
enterprise smartphone market.
Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS are expected to share top
positions in the Asian-Pacific enterprise smartphone market with shipments of
1.14 million each by 2016.
Windows Phone shipment to surpass BlackBerry in Asia Pacific by
2014
The research firm also predicted that Windows Phone will
surpass BlackBerry to seize the third spot in smartphone shipments to the
Asia-Pacific region by 2014.
editor@telecomlead.com