Nokia once again lowered its forecast for mobile device industry volumes for the fourth quarter, saying the slowdown in the mobile device market has continued more rapidly than expected since its last update on Nov. 14. The revised outlook was released in conjunction with its annual Capital Markets Day event in New York.
Nokia said the slowdown is apparent in varying degrees across all markets. Nokia also expects that operator and retail distribution channels will go through a period of destocking, resulting in lower sales volumes by manufacturers than purchase volumes by consumers for the industry in the first half of 2009.
In a statement, Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said 2009 will be challenging for the industry, but “we have a strong, enviable base to build on and I believe we will continue to strengthen our position on many fronts.” Nokia CFO Rick Simonson also stated that cost reductions are being made and are continuing in plans for 2009 and 2010.
Specifically, Nokia said it now estimates that fourth-quarter industry mobile device volumes will be lower than the previous estimate of about 330 million units, which would result in full year 2008 industry mobile device volumes below the earlier estimate of 1.24 billion units. The company expects its market share to be at or slightly up from an estimated 38% in the third quarter.
Earlier this week, Research In Motion (RIM) said it expects lower revenues for its third quarter, and Palm said it expects lower revenues as well as a result of lower demand for maturing smartphone and handheld products. Today, Nokia said it is targeting an increase in its market share in mobile devices in 2009 compared to 2008, including increased share in smartphones.
Separately, Nokia and RIM renewed their multi-year patent license agreement. The agreement covers the use of essential patents for GSM, W-CDMA and CDMA2000. Financial terms of the agreement consist of an up-front payment and on-going royalties payable to Nokia.
Filed Under: Carriers
