Nokia reports slowdown in sales

While Apple rejoices over its fourth-quarter results, Nokia is no such position. The Finnish manufacturer reports a 15% drop in the sales of handsets over the last three months.

Though Nokia’s net income has been divided by 3over the past year, the company still remains the world's largest mobile phone maker with a market share estimated at 37%. In Europe sales have gone down by more than 6%. The company has been hit hard by a drop in customer demand in the United States (-19,6% ) and in Asia (-36,1%).

2009, gloomy outlook

Nokia's outlook for 2009 is hardly optimistic. The Finnish company said it expects the volume of handsets to decline by 10 percent, whereas analysts predict 8%. Nokia had previously forecast a 5 percent decline in December. According to chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, this is much a reflection of market conditions. "In recent weeks, the macro-economic environment has deteriorated rapidly, with even weaker consumer confidence, unprecedented currency volatility and credit tightness continuing to impact the mobile communications industry," he said. "In this environment, taking cost action in a meaningful and definable way is about reducing operating expenses in addition to gaining those variable cost of goods sold reductions." This might mean reducing the number of employees at Nokia.

After the announcement of these results, Nokia’s share tumbled to 9,87 euros (-4%).