Nokia fights back with growth in market share

Nokia fights backs with growth in market share

29 January 2010 10:03 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Nokia's recently announced financial results for the last quarter of 2009 show that the Finnish phone maker is clawing its way back in to the market.

With net sales up, Nokia saw a 38% growth in smartphone shipments over the past year, selling over 20 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, which compares to 15 million the year before.

This sees Nokia with an estimated mobile device market share of 39% in Q4 2009, up from an estimated 37% in Q4 2008 and 38% in Q3 2009.

"We grew our market share in smartphones in the fourth quarter, driven by the successful launch of new touch and QWERTY models", said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia CEO, in a statement.

"Our performance in smartphones, combined with continuing success in the emerging markets, helped us increase sales in our Devices & Services unit, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year".

As far as the next year goes, Kallasvuo was not letting anything slip about future handsets, but instead said Nokia was focusing on "user experience" with the recent Ovi Maps news used as an example.

"Our focus remains firmly on execution, especially around user experience. Here I want to highlight our move to shake up the navigation market with free walk and drive navigation on our smartphones, a good example of how we are leveraging our assets to bring real benefits to consumers".