Nokia fourth-quarter sales down 19 percent

Nokia announced a fourth-quarter revenue of 12.7 billion EUR, down 19 percent year-over-year. The company lost marketshare to competitors and reported a net profit of 576 million EUR, down from 1.8 billion EUR a year earlier.

The phone giant said it sold 113.1 million phones last quarter, 15 percent less than a year ago and also lower than the 117.8 million units it sold during the third quarter. Nokia estimates its marketshare dropped from 40 percent in Q4 2007 to 37 percent last quarter.

"Volumes were a little bit lower than we expected. We predicted their sales to be flat quarter on quarter rather than down," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, via e-mail.

The drop in volume reflects not only the current economic climate but also Nokia's relative weakness in high-end phones for markets such as Western Europe, according to Milanesi.

Nokia now estimates its market share at 37 percent, down from 38 percent in the third quarter and 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

More info at PC World.