But, he can't deny the obvious, calling the results "clearly disappointing." Looking forward, Elop expects "competitive pressures to continue," but indicates the company has a "clear strategy" to improve things. He says those who have seen the company's early Windows Phone devices (really, who hasn't) are "very optimistic" about their potential and that they hope to launch this year with a "sequence of concentrated product launches. Very expensive launches, we hear.The challenges we are facing during our strategic transformation manifested in a greater than expected way in Q2 2011. However, even within the quarter, I believe our actions to mitigate the impact of these challenges have started to have a positive impact on the underlying health of our business. Most importantly, we are making better-than expected progress toward our strategic goals.
Update: Elop just wrapped up his portion of the company's earning call. A summary and a few choice quotes are available below.
In the earnings call, Stephen Elop didn't rock the boat, more or less sticking to the company line by talking up the company's "immediate actions" to address the current state of the market, which he states has largely shifted from a "battle of devices to a war of ecosystems." The company's ecosystem of choice is now, of course, Windows Phone, and Elop says he has "increased confidence" that the first Nokia WP7 devices will ship this year. Yes, "increased confidence," meaning there's still room for a slip, and he reconfirmed that those phones won't ship in volume until 2012.
Elop also talked about the company's intellectual property victories, most notably against Apple. There was "significant intellectual property income" this quarter and he re-iterated that "intellectual property is an important currency" these days, which leaves us wondering what company we'll next be digitally inserting into the salmon's mouth.