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Nokia Oyj fell as much as 5.6 per cent in Helsinki trading after introducing a smartphone that disappointed investors anticipating a handset attractive enough to push forward the company's comeback effort.
The Lumia 925 has a metal frame, lets users take sharper photos and video, including in low light, and costs euro 469 ($609) before taxes and carrier subsidies, Jo Harlow, Nokia's smartphone chief, said today at a press conference in London. Rather than a completely new device, the phone is a modified version of earlier models, said Mikko Ervasti, an analyst at Evli Bank Oyj in Helsinki.
"There is nothing groundbreakingly new or different in the hardware or software design, and there is limited differentiation to Lumia 920 or Lumia 928," Ervasti said.
Chief executive Stephen Elop is trying to boost a fledgling comeback bid that has so far failed to reverse market-share losses even as Lumia sales are rising. The phone also advances partner Microsoft Corp's push into mobile software as the two companies seek to break the dominance of Apple's iPhone and devices that run Google Inc's Android software, led by Samsung Electronics Co models.
Nokia fell as low as euro 2.78 for the biggest intraday drop in almost four weeks and declined 3.9 per cent to euro 2.83 at 1 pm in Helsinki. The stock was little changed this year through yesterday, after five straight annual declines.
Operators including Vodafone Group Plc will sell the Lumia 925 in Europe, starting in June. T-Mobile US Inc will offer it in the US and China Mobile Ltd and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd in China.
The handset includes software that lets users snap 10 photos at once and edit them, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said. The software will be available as an update for other Lumias running on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.
The metal design makes the Lumia 925 more robust, Nokia said. The back of the phone is polycarbonate and comes in white, grey and black. Users can separately buy covers that let the phone be charged wirelessly when placed on a special pad.
One of the first smartphone makers, Nokia dominated with a global market share topping 50 per cent before Apple's iPhone and Google's Android software were introduced six years ago. Nokia's market share has since collapsed to three percent, according to IDC. The slump has pushed Nokia to losses and forced it to cancel its dividend for the first time in at least 143 years.
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Lumia sales globally rose to 5.6 million units in the first three months of the year from 4.4 million in the fourth quarter as Nokia added versions. The company predicted at least 7.11 million Lumias will be sold this quarter as more models roll out. Nokia is trying to differentiate itself from rivals with its camera technology and location-based services.
"Nokia has been quite successful pushing great camera and video technology into their smartphones," said Ilkka Rauvola, an analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Helsinki. "To make themselves stand out even more they need to continue to innovate and drive down the price of the devices so more users around the world can afford them."
Elop, who joined from Microsoft in 2010, is into the third year of a bet that his former employer's software will help revive Nokia's sales. He abandoned Nokia's homegrown software after it fell out of favor among consumers.
Apple and Samsung's combined smartphone sales top 100 million a quarter. Apple's iPhone and devices running Android account for more than 90 per cent of the market.
NOKIA LUMIA 925 SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 2.78X0.33X5.08 inches
Operating system: Windows Phone 8
Display: 4.5 inches AMOLED
Battery: 2000 mAh with wireless charging
Processor: 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon
Camera: Pure View 8.7 MP with flash (rear); 1.2 MP (front)
RAM: 1GB
Internal Memory: 16 GB
