Nokia Corporation
(
NOK
), once the world's largest mobile phone maker, seems to revamp
its struggling handset business by creating modest demand for
it's newly launched Windows 8-based Lumia 920 smartphones in
Germany and the U.S.
With the holiday season ahead, Nokia like other smartphone
manufacturers are all set to grab this opportunity by launching
all new series of smartphones. Nokia revealed two new smartphones
- Lumia 920 and 820 on November, 6.
Both the Lumia handsets are powered with rich features
(PureView camera, 4GLTE technology, Windows 8 OS, numerous apps),
hence giving them every chance of regaining its lost glory.
In the recently concluded quarter, the company reported declining
smartphone sales. The company shipped merely 6.3 million smart
devices (inclusive of 2.9 million Lumia-series phones) during the
last quarter as compared to 23.6 million
Apple Inc.
's (
AAPL
) iPhones.
However, the trend is expected to change as Nokia's newly
launched Lumia 920 and 820 are well set to mitigate the loopholes
that existed with earlier Windows 7-based Lumia series of
devices.
According to
Amzon.com Inc.
's (
AMZN
) latest report related to the smartphone sales, Lumia 920 holds
the second place after Motorola's DROID RAZR MAXX HD 4G.
Moreover,
AT&T Inc.
(
T
) - the second largest carrier in the U.S. holds the exclusive
rights of Lumia 920 device. In addition, Apple's new iPhone 5
missed the analysts' sales expectation mainly due to lackluster
product mix as compared to its earlier handset releases, hence
giving a ray of hope to Nokia - to gain some market traction.
Furthermore, continuous legal tussle between Samsung Electronics
and Apple coupled with improving average selling price for
Nokia's smart devices (up 18% year over year) will continue to
create that opportunity for the company for revamping its market
share.
Smartphone penetration is still quite low especially in
developing countries like India and China (two largest populated
countries), which happens to be another growth catalyst for Nokia
as the company is already having strong and dedicated customer
base in those parts of the world. Moreover, demand for
smartphones is on the rise with a substantial 47% year-over-year
growth, as per Gartner research firm.
Despite such breakthroughs, which Nokia might receive while
moving ahead, the company still happens to be way behind Samsung
and Apple's smartphones, which are well supported with strong
operating system and huge apps.
We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Nokia.
Currently, Nokia has a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short-term Hold
rating on the stock.
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