The New York Times-20080125-Nokia-s Profit Rises 44-
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Nokia's Profit Rises 44%
Nokia said Thursday that it had extended its share of the global cellphone market to a record 40 percent in the fourth quarter as profit surged 44 percent on rising sales to Africa, China and the Middle East.
The company, based in Espoo, Finland, said profit rose to 1.84 billion euros ($2.7 billion) from 1.27 billion euros a year earlier. Sales climbed 34 percent to 15.7 billion euros, from 11.7 billion euros.
Nokia said it sold 77.8 million cellphones in Asia, the Middle East and Africa in the quarter, nearly double the 42.3 million sold in Europe and North America. In China, Nokia's fastest-growing high-volume market, the company sold 20.2 million phones, an increase of 38.4 percent over a year earlier.
The company pushed its global market share to 40.2 percent from 38.9 percent in the third quarter, according to Strategy Analytics, a research firm in Milton Keynes, England.
Nokia's market share exceeded the combined shares of its next three biggest competitors: Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
Psychologically, this is an impressive milestone to reach in a mostly open and free global market, said Neil Mawston, director for wireless research at Strategy Analytics. They have become more dominant over the past decade, and this only strengthens their position.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's chief executive, said the company was well positioned to raise its market share further this year. It is developing a wireless services business around Navteq, an American maker of digital maps, which Nokia is buying for $8.1 billion, and Nokia's joint venture with Siemens in wireless networks broke even after losing money in its first six months of operation.
