Nokia's profits drop 90% in Q1 2009

So, there's good news and bad news here, and we're opting to go against tradition by dishing out the positive first. Nokia just pushed out its Q1 2009 results, and while many firms have been struggling to stay afloat, at least it managed to turn a profit of €122 million ($160 million). That said, it's still looking at a staggering 90 percent drop in profits compared to its first quarter of 2008, where it raked in a mind-boggling €1.222 billion ($1.6 billion). Not surprisingly, sales were also down 27 percent to €9.28 billion ($12.2 billion) from €12.7 billion ($16.7 billion). Of course, Nokia's far from being alone in having to showcase less-than-beautiful Q1 numbers, but in reality, the damage could've been much worse; in fact, shares of the company's stock inched up by 8 percent following the reveal, as many had feared an even more significant decline. All in all, Nokia's still holding strong to a 37 percent market share worldwide, and if CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has anything to do with it (hint: he does), things should be on the up and up here soon.

[Via BBC]

[holycow @ Apr 16th 2009 9:29AM]

Release the N97 now!

[Renegade Fanboy @ Apr 16th 2009 10:45AM]

Why would they? The 5800 sells 1 million per month, they can get another easy 3 million until the N97 comes out - in the meanwhile they can perfect the N97.

(I hate them for it - I love the 5800 bot long for the N97 secretly ;-)

[MattWPBS @ Apr 16th 2009 12:09PM]

Bit of the company commentary would have been nice in the post. Good point that a large point of the drop is down to retail selling out and not replacing inventory to the same levels.

[Mark Anderson @ Apr 16th 2009 2:23PM]

Nokia need to get their act together and stop releasing endless variants of the N Series. Fortunately the message seems to have got through by now after the debacle that was the N96 (delayed, outdated and pointless) and the futile N81 and N78. The current line up of the N79, N85 and 5800 (yes, I know it's not an N-series) offer a much better proposition with the N97 just round the corner especially when you consider Ovi store will be here in a month.

I expect Nokia to come back strongly in the back half of the year. What would also interest me is a comparison of 5800's sold vs iPhone's sold in Europe and Asia over the last quarter. I think the results would surprise a few of our fruity friends.

[SornyPanafonic @ Apr 16th 2009 9:32AM]

ehh, it hurts now but i stil think theyre in good position since they seem to dominate both ends of the market.

[Aaron @ Apr 16th 2009 9:34AM]

So if they've maintained market share, that means that the whole cell phone market is down 27%. Ouch!

I guess they're still doing something right though. Even in this downturn, they're selling a million phones a day.

[Schweppes @ Apr 16th 2009 9:40AM]

You can sell a million of anything if it costs $0.99

Low-end cell phones that you get at your local garbage bin should not be included in sales...

If I sell 12 Ferrari a year and the guy across the street sell 12 GM cars a day.. I still make more $$$ and do less work because each GM car makes $0.50 profit.

I hate you GM...

What was this comment about?

[Shane @ Apr 16th 2009 9:39AM]

Wow...I didn't realize that NOKLA had taken such a bite out of their market share...

[Schweppes @ Apr 16th 2009 9:55AM]

It it hard to compete with suck low low priced %100 1:1 HIGH copy phones...

[teej @ Apr 16th 2009 11:01AM]

i lol'ed.

[Brian @ Apr 16th 2009 11:03AM]

don't forget about IVokia and nokio!

[googleadam @ Apr 16th 2009 3:59PM]

Well have you not seen the NOKLA N97! It makes the rip-off company Nokia look bad. Hence why all sales are going to NOKLA, theres just better build quality.

anyways I've never really been a Nokia fan (I love my Sony W810i (I believe Nilay had one) anyways thats not the point) but my one friend has a Nokia (dont know the model) and he loves it!

/babbling

[ellio @ Apr 16th 2009 9:46AM]

It doesn't help either that all the UK Telecom companies are now pushing 18 month contract instead of the normal 12

[bk7 @ Apr 16th 2009 10:00AM]

From one UK person to another, i say thank god we don't have to endure the 24 month minimum contracts that seem to be the only thing you can get in the USA.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Apr 16th 2009 10:18AM]

or the 48 month contracts from Rogers here in Canada across the pond. UGH!

[holycow @ Apr 16th 2009 10:55AM]

Rogers contracts are 3 years (36 months)!

[superhobo @ Apr 16th 2009 9:44AM]

Nokia has a water resistant model?

[sockatume @ Apr 16th 2009 10:15AM]

They've been showing journalists around their testing facility in the UK. Although the warranty's void if you get even a drop of water on the phone, they still test them to stand up to rain and a bunch of other mayhem. So there's lots of pics of Nokias being doused, crushed, twisted, etc. floating around now.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Apr 16th 2009 10:19AM]

That's Urine! Someone's pissed...

[G @ Apr 16th 2009 12:14PM]

i think those are N79s in the photo.

they test them with water just in case, you wouldn't want your phone to die if you have to use it in the rain ;)

[Asha @ Apr 16th 2009 9:49AM]

They ONLY make $160 Million!?!?!? Booo hooo!!!! They should be glad that they are still in the black!

[Andrew Fujimura @ Apr 16th 2009 9:50AM]

they have a green N85? Looks like that is some sort of phone torture test.

[zephxiii @ Apr 16th 2009 9:52AM]

looks more like a N79. Funny too, I just bought one, didn't know it was water resistant! /joke.

[Andrew Fujimura @ Apr 16th 2009 9:57AM]

yeah your right, not n85, no slider.

[zephxiii @ Apr 16th 2009 9:51AM]

Yep, and so does ILoveApple, all the way from your fat body, to the small brain behind your ugly face.

[Subsnow @ Apr 16th 2009 9:54AM]

I hate to mention it but the introduction of the iphone now has europeans looking at touchscreen and qwerty options. Europe is Nokia's bread and butter and with the exception of the 5800 and maybe the e71 have very little to offer in this market. Hopefully the n97 will change this but it seems that its going to be seriously pricey.

Are Nokia part of the Android alliance?

[Nelagster @ Apr 16th 2009 10:28AM]

Nokia bought out their own OS, symbian. What do you think?

[bob e @ Apr 16th 2009 9:54AM]

Nokia is finished and will go the way of Motorola who once commanded the market with their Razr phone. They got lazy and did not improve their products.

[NLI @ Apr 16th 2009 10:01AM]

eheh what a maroon! what an ignaranimous hehehehehhe

[Newone @ Apr 16th 2009 11:23AM]

Motorola hasn't commanded the maket since the 1980s. They had a slight break with razr, but even with that didn't command the market.

[freediverdude @ Apr 16th 2009 9:56AM]

Why were the profits down 90% when the sales were only down 27%. That's what would worry me about this company. I'm sure they slashed prices, but still.

[Sarig @ Apr 16th 2009 10:48AM]

Profits were down 90%, presumably income would be down 27%.

Profits is what you have left of the income when you've account for all the money going out.

Which is why Sony Ericsson for example has negative profits, despite sellings tons of phones.

[DislocatedGenius @ Apr 16th 2009 11:08AM]

The profits were probably so badly reduced compared to sales due to uneven weakening/strengthening of currencies. Depending where they bought their parts and sold the majority of their phones - it could cost them a significant sum of money. This is why car makers have had to actually raise prices in the UK. They are buying parts in Euros, which has held its value quite well, and sold their cars in Sterling, which has dropped significantly in value in the last few months.

[schmitty338 @ Apr 16th 2009 2:35PM]

Wow, I can't believe how dense some people are.

Did you see the part where profits were down $1.4 billion (rounding) but sale revenue went down $4.5 billion? This means that despite having 4.5 billion less coming into the company, they managed to cut costs enough to only reduce profits by 1.4 billion. This is a great success! Most companies would have deep losses in this case, but they were able to still pull a decent profit!

To sum up, PROFITS != REVENUE

[Michal @ Apr 16th 2009 10:01AM]

90%? wow

[digitallysick @ Apr 16th 2009 10:16AM]

Could it be because they crank out wayy to many handsets with a horrible app store and little support? me thinks so

[Me4u2 @ Apr 16th 2009 10:02AM]

Just a little hurdle in the way, by Q2 Nokia would be back on track, cuz the N97, and other sweet babies are gonna be released by then. I cant wait for June to arrive I need the N97 too ASAP...

[MarClar @ Apr 16th 2009 10:02AM]

I'm not the biggest fan of Nokia... But I would have to say even the N96 is better than the iGroan. The N97 should wipe the floor with it!

*Sharp intake of breath*

MMSdeliveryreports5mpcamerawithflashvideowithvideolightinternetflashsupport32Gmemorydecentspeakersremovablebattery...

*Breathe*

And that's just the N96. Without mentioning the plethora of (free) applications available. No need for abuse when the facts speak for themselves!

[Lundmark @ Apr 16th 2009 10:02AM]

FINALLY!!!

[MarClar @ Apr 16th 2009 10:10AM]

Although saying that, LOL @ zephxiii :o)

It's all about the TG01 though...

Want. Now.

[Gibson @ Apr 16th 2009 10:12AM]

Why are the phones in that picture all wet?

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Apr 16th 2009 10:16AM]

It's a metaphor for: "They're all washed up!"

[Derek @ Apr 17th 2009 12:23PM]

Probably because they were scrapped for a writeoff and are being rained on before going to the recycler.

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Apr 16th 2009 10:15AM]

I wonder if the KIRF Nokla's have something to do with this? or The fact that NOKIA are a bunch of Dicks? Must be the latter....

[Patriks7 @ Apr 16th 2009 11:56AM]

I would guess it has more to do with the current recession.

(BTW best thing, in last econ class, a girl asked what a recession is when we did an activity with it! xD)

[Frankenstein Black @ Apr 16th 2009 10:26AM]

90%! DAMN! Well, a lot of corporate suits are learning a HARD LESSON in this global economic downturn, and that is THE MIDDLE CLASS IS THE ENGINE THE DRIVES THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. If they aint buying shit, you aint making money! So stop squeezing them and pay a decent wage!!

[Cesar Cardoso @ Apr 16th 2009 10:26AM]

Hey, at least Nokia managed to turn some profit in still-more-than-terrible Q1 2009. I doubt many companies can manage to stay in the black in this terrible world economy.

And, as Aaron noted, the WHOLE CELLPHONE MARKET CRUMBLED 27%, guys. Get a life.

Subsnow: Nokia isn't part of the Google boys. And it'll never be, because they're developing their own Linux phones. I bet they'll buy some search company rather than cooperate with the Brin and Page.

[Frankenstein Black @ Apr 16th 2009 10:27AM]

90%! DAMN! Well, a lot of corporate suits are learning a HARD LESSON in this global economic downturn, and that is THE MIDDLE CLASS IS THE ENGINE THE DRIVES THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. If they aint buying shit, you aint making money! So stop squeezing them and pay a decent wage!!

[Cesar Cardoso @ Apr 16th 2009 10:28AM]

More proof that your dumb comment is shit.

[Frankenstein Black @ Apr 16th 2009 10:29AM]

Woops! I wont ramble on about the commenting system here since its been said before ;^(...