Nokia’s Fall Is Now Officially Complete, As Apple Becomes World’s Largest Smartphone Maker
July 21, 2011
Once the largest smartphone maker in the world, Nokia has just announced dismal second quarter sales that gives that title to Apple. During the just completed quarter, the Finnish mobile phone maker reported it shipped 16.7 million units, down 34 percent from the same period last year. This compared to Apple's 20.3 million iPhone shipments over the same period, according to The Financial Times.
In April, we told you that Apple had overtaken Nokia as the world’s largest smartphone maker in terms of revenues. However, this is the first time Apple has bested the company in the number of smartphones sold too.
During the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $524 million as revenues declined 7 percent.
Stephen Elop, chief executive, said the group’s challenges were “manifested in a greater than expected way” in the quarter, but insisted that recovery efforts had “started to have a positive impact” on the business. “We are making better-than-expected progress towards our strategic goals,” he said.Nokia announced in February that it was replacing its Symbian (and MeeGo) OS with Windows Phone 7. However, the first of these handsets isn’t expected until later this year. In the meantime, the company is attempting to sell hardware with the legacy OS installed. This fact, naturally, is affecting Nokia's overall sales. What do you think? Leave your comments below.
