14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia just made public its financial results for the first quarter of 2008, unveiling net sales of 12.66 billion Euro, a 28% increase when compared to the 9.85 billion from the first quarter of 2007. The Finnish giant also announced it has shipped 115.5 million mobile phones worldwide (in 2008's Q1, of course), accounting for about 39% of the phones sold by all the handset manufacturers in this period.
The 115.5 million devices rolled-out until now this year represent a minus 13% when compared to the 133.5 units shipped in the fourth quarter of last year. But the first quarter is usually the one when the lowest sales are registered, so the 13% depreciation should not come as a "bad thing". Plus, if we compare the Q1 2008 sales with the ones from Q1 2007 (91.1 million), we get a 27% increase, so it's clear that Nokia will ship this year more handsets than ever.
The total number of units sold in 2007 raised to 437.1 million. Assuming the next three quarters of 2008 will bring, like the first, a 27% increase in sales, Nokia could ship, until the end of the year, about 555 million handsets. Which is quite impressive, I'm sure you agree (and, for those who are superstitious, it's good it won't be 666 million).
The average selling price (ASP) of the 115.5 million phones sold in the Q1 2008 is 79 Euro, less than the 83 Euro ASP from the fourth quarter of last year - this means, of course, that the Finnish company sold more cheap devices.
Except North America, where only 2.6 million Nokia phones were sold in the Q1 2008 (as opposed to 4.8 million in Q1 2007), Nokia's sales boosted in all the other markets, especially in Asia Pacific (34.1 million) and Latin America (11.9 million).
Like in 2007, all things look good for Nokia, and it seems the company will be the No.1 handset supplier for ever and ever. Which is not bad at all, right?