More miseries at Nokia with net profit downs 40% in Q2

Nokia has posted a sharp 40 percent decline in year-on-year second-quarter net profit amid signs that the world’s largest handset vendor is still struggling to keep pace with high-end rivals such as Apple and Google.

Nokia has revealed net sales of €10 billion for the second quarter of 2010, up 1% year-on-year - although down 4% at constant currency. The company sold 111.1 million mobile devices in Q2, up 8% year-on-year, with 24 million of those being smartphones (up 42% in the same period). Nokia also posted Services net sales of €158 million in Q2, compared to €140 million in Q2 2009 - a 12.9% increase year-on-year. Despite the firm issuing profit warnings in the quarter, the figures were still below analyst expectations as analysts had predicted profit of EUR285 million. The disappointing results reflect the fact that Nokia has still to develop a device able to compete with Apple’s iPhone or devices based on Google’s Android operating system.

Nokia estimates that it took a 33% share of the mobile device market in Q2 this year, down from 35% in Q2 2009. The company thinks its share of the smartphone market held at 41% over the same period.

Nokia also gave figures for the average selling price of its handsets in Q2 of both years. From Q2 2009 to Q2 2010 its overall ASP fell from €64 to €61. However, for smartphones specifically, its ASP fell from €181 to €143.

Some more stats: more than 17 million people have downloaded its free Ovi Maps navigation/mapping application; Ovi Store now has more than 13,000 'content items' (including apps), and its Ovi App Wizard has generated more than one million downloads in ten weeks since launch.

On a brighter side, The Nokia N8 will be coming out soon follow by by further Symbian^3 smartphones that Nokia is confident will give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start Nokia’s fightback at the higher end of the market. While its unsure how the new N8 will perform, one thing for sure, Nokia isnt going flat down without putting up a good fight.