Nokia is feeling the heat with rumors the company will enable support for Android apps on future devices. Company CEO, ex-Microsoft Stephen Elop described “significant challenges” fighting Apple’s iPhone and the Google OS in the market. Shares fell 8.7 percent in reponse.
“Nokia faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution,” Elop said in the company’s earnings statement today. “The industry changed and now it’s time for Nokia to change faster.”
Net income fell to 745 million euros ($1.02 billion) from 948 million euros, a year earlier. Operating profit fell from €1.47b (€950m net) a year ago to €1.09b (€745m net) this year. Sales were 12.7 billion euros. Nokia’s smartphone market share in the last three months of 2010 shrank to 31 percent, compared to 40 percent in Q4 2009.
Contrast the fortunes of the ailing market leading mobile firm with those of Apple, which sold 16.2 million iPhones last quarter for $10.5 billion in revenue. Apple last week reported a 78 percent jump in profit for the last three months of 2010 to $6 billion.
