Nokia reports $1.25 billion 4Q loss despite strong smartphone sales

Nokia Oyj, the once dominant mobile handset maker, yesterday posted its third consecutive quarter of hefty losses although it regained market share by selling 19.6 million smartphones.

The Espoo, Finland-based company recorded an operating loss of $1.25 billion in the fourth quarter compared with a profit of €745 million in the same period a year earlier.

Nokia, which lost $19 billion in market value in 2011, said net sales fell to €10 billion ($13.2 billion), from €12.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Nokia is in the middle of phasing out its Symbian-based devices and porting nearly all its smartphone handsets to Microsoft's Windows Phone OS. The new Windows Phone looks promising but is yet to prove itself in the market.

Nokia sold 19.6 million smartphones and 93.9 million feature phones, a total of 113.5 million handsets during the quarter, which is down by 29 per cent to the 123.7 million sales compared to the same quarter of 2010.

Profit margins also fell on mobile handsets to 3.4 per cent, compared to 12.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2011 and 12.7 per cent a year ago.