Nokia's Lumia sales in North America fail to make a splash

Nokia's Lumia sales in North America fail to make a splash

 

Apparently, even Nikki Minaj couldn't spark a renewed interest in Nokia and its Lumia line of smartphones.

The company disclosed yesterday in its quarterly report that it shipped 600,000 handsets to North America, a number that includes its newest Lumia phones, as well as a mix of lower end and prepaid Symbian phones already out in the market. 

 

Given that the second quarter marked the first full three months of the heavily hyped Lumia 900, the results are somewhat disappointing. The 600,000 figure is the same amount of phones shipped in the first quarter, and marked a 60 percent decline from a year ago. 

 

The figures, while not devastatingly bad, underscore the uphill climb Nokia faces in rebuilding its brand and presence in North America and, in particular, the U.S. The company threw a ton of promotional resources behind the launch of its Lumia 900 -- including a Times Square concert featuring Minaj -- and was backed by AT&T's largest ever campaign, yet failed to see any quarter-over-quarter improvement. 

 

"Sales over half a million units is actually quite good as a general thing, but it's certainly not as much as you'd want to re-launch a brand and take on Apple and Samsung, both of whom sell in the millions," said Avi Greengart, who covers consumer technology for Current Analysis. 

 

Nokia also only reported the number of phones shipped, and not actually sold directly to consumers. AT&T may shed some light on Lumia 900 sales when it reports its results on Tuesday. T-Mobile USA sells the Lumia 710, and has only said it has been pleased with the results. 

 

Financially, Nokia did show some improvement in North America. The region generated $128 million in revenue, up 45 percent over a year ago, and 38 percent over the first quarter. That suggests a shifting mix toward more Lumia smartphones and less prepaid and basic phones. 

 

Nokia doesn't break out the sales figures for specific lines, but Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu estimated that each carrier ordered about 250,000 units, unwilling to bet too big on the success of Windows Phone. 

 

Nobody is calling the numbers terrible. In fact, given Nokia's past challenges and diminished visibility in the region, they seem right in line.