Nokia Confirms Q1 Loss, Admits Lumia Sales Are "Mixed"

Nokia has confirmed it made a $1.7bn loss in the first three months of this year. And it's admitted sales of the new Lumia range of smartphones have been "mixed", with CEO Stephen Elop naming the UK as "challenging".

The company had net sales of $9.7bn in Q1, down from $13.6bn in the same period last year.

In a statement, Elop says getting back into the smartphone market with theWindows Phone-powered Lumia has been more difficult than expected:

“We are navigating through a 

significant company transition in an industry environment that continues to evolve and shift quickly. Over 

the last year we have made progress on our new strategy, but we have faced greater than expected 

competitive challenges. 

We have launched four Lumia devices ahead of schedule to encouraging awards and popular acclaim. The 

actual sales results have been mixed. We exceeded expectations in markets including the United States, but 

establishing momentum in certain markets including the UK has been more challenging. 

At the same time, the lower price tiers of our industry are undergoing a structural change, and traditional 

feature phones are challenged by full touch devices. As a result we are taking deliberate measures to 

continue to renew our Series 40 platform, and we plan to strengthen our line-up in Q2 2012. We are 

making investments in our Mobile Phones business unit aimed at addressing the gaps in our offering.

We have a clear sense of urgency to move our strategy forward even faster. We are pursuing step function 

changes by having launched the Lumia 610 and Lumia 900 in the first quarter, expanding market 

coverage, increasing advertising, introducing key customer-requested features and broadening our most 

successful go-to-market activities. At the same time, we have focused our efforts in the low-end of 

smartphones and feature phone asset to drive improved business results and conserve cash."