Americans just are not that into Nokia Lumia smartphones. Despite the ton of money that was spent on promoting the new Windows-based handset, Nokia once again missed the boat.
The company shared their quarterly sale results with the public on Thursday and the numbers are low. They only shipped 600,000 phones, and that number includes a mix of new Lumia models and lower-end phones. It’s reports like this that only reaffirm that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is struggling in a big way.
One of their more notable promotional events for the Nokia Lumia 900, was a concert in Times Square that feature Nicki Minaj. AT&T helped back this campaign and it was considered their largest event ever. Unfortunately, the interest in the Lumia just isn’t there.
Current analyst, Avi Greengart, explained that although half a million unit sales is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s obviously not enough to compete with the major competitors Apple and Samsung, both of which boast unit sales in the millions.
It should be pointed out that Nokia only disclosed the number of phones they shipped, and not the number of phones actually sold through carriers to consumers. AT&T has yet to disclose the actual number of sales they made with the Lumia 900, but T-Mobile claims that they are satisfied with their sales of Lumia 710.
Overall, the numbers are not as bad as it could have been. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) accrued $128 million from North American sales. That’s up forty-five percent from one year ago, and thirty-eight percent above the first quarter. The numbers are climbing, albeit at a slow pace.
This recent report does offer a little hope for Nokia, but even if they are starting to get back on the right track, they still have a long way to go. I think it’s possible that Nokia can find success again, but I’m not sure it that will happen, and even if it does, I highly doubt they would ever enjoy the same amount of success they once did.
What would it take for Nokia to rise again? That’s a tough question to answer because there is so much competition out there in the smartphone market. The only thing they could do is redefine the smartphone, or perhaps create a revolutionary device which could replace mobile phones. I think a scenario that’s more likely to happen, is that Nokia will eventually be acquired by another tech company. Maybe this will be the jumpstart to just that.
