Nokia today admitted to another quarter of massive losses as it watched Apple and Samsung continue to ride roughshod through the smartphone market.
The company said it lost 1.41 billion (£1.1 billion) in the second quarter of the year with turnover crashing by 19%. Nokia is burning through cash at a rate analysts say would wipe it out within a couple of years as its sales growth has lagged its high development overheads.
However, there was some good news for investors as the company showed its cash burn was not as bad as many had feared, giving a boost to its stricken share price.
The Finnish company, which was the big trailblazer in the global mobile market before smartphones came along, attempted to calm fears for its future by saying sales of its new Lumia phones had doubled, albeit from a very low base. The Lumia range runs on a relatively untested phone system created by another technology laggard, Microsoft.
Lumia is struggling to gain much of a customer base at a time when Samsung’s S3 has been a huge seller and Apple continually improves its iPhone.
