Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) has lagged behind Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) in global phone shipments for quite sometime. But, for the first time Samsung sold more units in Finland than Nokia, reports Digitoday. This comes out as a shock because Finland has always been on the side of the Finnish phone maker.
In Finland, during the last quarter, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) garnered market share of 36 percent compared to 33 percent of Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V). Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was at the third spot with 14 percent market share.
The losing trend
The change in the market share has been a significant one as in the previous year Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) garnered as much as 48 percent of market share whereas Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) was much behind with only 28 percent of market share. In 2010, the market share of Nokia stood at 65 percent.
Over the couple of years, Nokia has lost market share, and it has been witnessed by everyone. The Finnish phone maker is toiling hard to compete in the ever surging smartphone market. The efforts of Nokia to increase its sales have failed badly in regions like North America in the previous quarter. The number of units sold was just 400,000. However, in some markets the phone has made some progress.
The market of Finland is a small one compared to other countries. According to the data from IDC, 587,000 units were sold in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 out of which 428,000 were Smartphones.
A possible reason
According to a research director at IDC the sales of Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) are divided between smartphones and “more basic” phones. On the other hand, the units sold by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) are primarily the Smartphones (around 80 percent). Nokia has launched various low cost phones like Asha 501, which can be said to be incorporating features of both smartphones and basic phones. It means that the phone cannot be categorized specifically in any one category.
Nokia described Asha 501 as a phone that thins the line. Asha 501 was declared as Smartphone by Nokia. Lumia Smartphones posted record sales in the first quarter but has not been able to garner a respectable market share in the vital markets like the United States.
Samsung setting R&D in Nokia-land
Samsung is not only hurting Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) by gaining market share but is all set to launch a new research and development centre in Finland. The centre will be established in Finland’s second largest city of Espoo where the headquarters of Nokia is established. The name of the establishment will be Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) Research Institute and will open on June 13.
