Nokia lowers Q1 2012 guidance but reveals how Windows Phone is boosting numbers

Nokia has issues some guidance around the performance of the company in Q1 2012, but has also revealed how rapidly Windows Phone is taking over its smartphone sales.

Stephen Elop has revealed the company has sold “more than 2 million Lumia devices at an average selling price of approximately EUR 220” out of a total of 12 million smartphones sold.  That leaves 10 million Symbian handsets giving Windows Phone 17% of the smartphone sales in the company.

The company however generated EUR 1.7 billion in revenue, with EUR 440 million coming from Windows Phone sales, leaving EUR 1.26 billion coming  from Symbian sales.

This means Windows phone sales are now more than 26% of the revenue from Nokia’s smartphone division, a more rapid rise than I think the company expected.

Using those same figures, one can see Windows Phones sell for nearly double the price of Symbian phones, meaning the company would not have to sell as many Windows Phones as Symbian Phones to make the save revenue (and hopefully profit).

Windows Phone sales do seem to be ramping up nicely however, with Nokia saying “Nokia has seen sequential growth in Lumia device activations every month since starting sales of Lumia devices in November 2011. Lumia has gained market share with both distribution partners and consumers.”

Stephen Elop saying:

"Within our Smart Devices business unit, we have established early momentum with Lumia, and we are increasing our investments in Lumia to achieve market success. Our operator and distributor partners are providing solid support for Windows Phone as a third ecosystem, as evidenced most recently by the launch of the Lumia 900 by AT&T in the United States."

"We are continuing to increase the clock speed of the company. The change is tangible, and we are proud of the way Nokia employees are quickly responding to the needs of consumers and partners."

With Nokia Lumia sales pegged at around 2 million handsets, and the company more than 50% of the Windows Phone 7 market, we would estimate Windows Phone sales of around 3 to 4 million handsets in Q1 2012, in line with our estimates based on Facebook Active users.

See the full press release here.