So, Nokia’s Q1 results are out and time to analyse and find out what has been hits and misses. Coming to hits first,
- Lumia shipments grown to 5.6 million and that too beating the effect of seasonality (Q1 results are usually dismal)
- Nokia’s cash position is strong at EUR 4.5 Billion at the end of Q1.
- Lumia’s ASP have been really high and that indicates good uptake for higher end devices in the mix.
- Nokia achieving underlying profitability
Coming to misses now,
- Asha devices and feature phones sales plummeting more than what was expected due to seasonality.
- Here Maps division still not performing as expected.
- Nokia’s US strategy is killing Lumia sales. In North America Nokia has sold only 0.4 million devices in Q1. Exclusivity deal with AT&T may have been good, when supply was limited. But, the 6-month exclusive agreement with AT&T has killed Lumia sales in Q1 and will impact Q2 as well.
- Here Maps monetization is really puzzling everyone. Nokia claims it to be powering most of the vehicles around, but the returns are not that great.
Coming to what Nokia should be doing going ahead and what to expect from Q2,
- First of all they should get rid of this “exclusive deal” absurdity. It has become a burden for Lumia sales. It has marred Q1 sales in US and even if Nokia launches Lumia 928 exclusive to Verizon only and don’t bring it globally it is still too much R&D effort for just one market and one carrier. Ridiculous!!
- New Asha devices with better design and features are coming soon, but Nokia is moving really slow there as this should have happened during Q1 itself.
- Perhaps Nokia needs to monetize Here Maps in a much better way for earning advertisements revenue.
This is why Q2 can be much better,
- Lumia 520 has started rolling out since the beginning of Q2 and if Lumia 620’s performance in Q1 and recent sales reports are any indication, it may prove to be biggest hit Lumia device for Nokia.
- Lumia 720 which started rolling out in mid of April will reach to many markets. Lumia 620 is also getting launched in many more markets.
- Lumia 920 price has been slashed in China and may be followed in more markets. Lumia 928 launch may add much-needed support at Verizon in US.
- Seasonality mars Q1 performance and historically Nokia always has better Q2 than Q1.
- New Asha device will be launched along with wider roll out of next-gen chaepest featurephones like Nokia 105.
