Nokia’s Windows Phones Not Exactly Flying Off the Shelves
Nokia says it has been pleased with how its new Windows Phone 7 handsets are doing at market. “The level of preorders, as well as reaction in shops today, lead us to be very positive about the launch,” company spokesperson Ray Haddow said of the Lumia 800.
But others outside the company aren’t so sure. And at least one of them — Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette — is predicting disappointing sales for the quarter.
“We believe that shipments of Nokia’s new Windows Phone 7 products have been lower than we had previously anticipated,” Faucette wrote in a note to clients. “We had expected that the company could ship as many as 2 million units into the six targeted markets for the holidays; however, we now believe that those shipments are likely to be less than 1 million for the quarter.”
Less than 1 million? How much less?
Less by half. According to Faucette, December-quarter sales could come in under 500,000 units.
Which could be viewed as a disappointment. That said, these phones are newly launched, and we’re still early in Nokia’s reinvigoration. One could argue that it’s unrealistic to expect blowout sales from the company’s first Windows Phone smartphones, particularly given the market power of their competition — the iPhone and a growing legion of Android handsets. Nokia was never going to just stroll into the market with a few slick smartphones and abruptly reclaim its lost glory.
Nokia declined comment on Faucette’s report.
[Image credit: Someecards]