Most industry watchers were waiting for the last nail to be hammered into Nokia’s pine box, but the company’s CEO, Stephen Elop, had great news for investors today—Nokia actually surprised Wall Street by showing a two-percent profit during the fourth quarter.
Just like Rocky
The comeback story started two-years ago when Elop decided to drop Nokia’s proprietary operating system for its smartphones and adopt Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS instead.
The first few years were rough but Nokia seems to have turned the corner and is on the way back.
Elop stated in a news conference today that:
“While we definitely experienced some tough challenges in the first half of 2012, we are managing through these issues.”
Elop’s understatement of Nokia’s situation belays the actual reality of the company’s position—industry analysts were expecting a 10-percent loss for the fourth quarter and a continued downturn in business for the cell phone manufacturer.
Smaller and leaner
Part of Nokia’s comeback is due to its restructuring and downsizing. Last year Nokia sold its headquarters to save much needed cash flow.
Susan Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Nokia commented:
“The company is a lot smaller now but people are working better together. Everyone has been pitching in.”
A temporary fix
Nokia has dismissed a third of its workforce and sold its headquarters, which may be part of the reason for the company pulling in a profit instead of a loss. But in spite of these belt tightening measures, analysts believe that Nokia isn’t out of the woods yet.
Until it can produce a smartphone that is a monster hit with the public, it may start to slide again into the mire.
Via New York Times
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