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Nokia may have shipped over 1 million Lumia handsets in the fourth quarter, and could boost this number to 3.2 million in the first quarter, according to a survey of analysts.

A Bloomberg survey of 22 forecasters had only one analyst predicting Lumia sales of below 1 million, with 1.3 million being a popular estimate for shipment made by the end of 2011. Expectations among the 22 analysts surveyed ranged from sales of 800,000 Lumia phones to 2 million, though the average expectations were above 1 million. Nokia will report its fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

“The numbers look promising,” Espen Furnes, an Oslo-based fund manager at Storebrand Asset Management, told Bloomberg. “If Nokia is able to have a strong launch and surpass at least one million and keep that type of momentum, this would help put them in a credible position that is crucial to winning back investors.”

However, Nokia’s overall smartphones sales, which still rely heavily on Symbian, may have plummeted 36 per cent in the quarter, analysts said, and will likely have a damaging effect on Nokia’s overall revenue and profit. Industry watchers are already saying that the company is likely to have made a loss of €91.6 million in the fourth quarter, with sales down 21 per cent at around €10 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Commenting on the decline in Symbian sales, Goldman Sachs analyst Tim Boddy issued a note claiming that Nokia remains in a challenging transition period. “First-half device sales are likely to be soft as Lumia demand ramps up only gradually and Symbian declines steepen,” he wrote.

This worry regarding Lumia sales volumes has been highlighted by Neil Mawston, a director at research firm Strategy Analytics. Speaking to Dow Jones Newswire, Mawston said investors are focusing too much on Nokia’s latest smartphones so soon after their release, and given they’re only available in a handful of countries.

“It’s too soon to judge,” Mawston said. “If you look back to Apple’s iPhone performance in 2007 and Google’s Android in 2008, they had a sluggish start the first quarter after launch and people started to write them off, but new models came a year or so later and sales rocketed.”

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Dow Jones Newswire article

Related Articles:
Report: Nokia under pressure to slash Lumia 710 pricing in UK
Nokia, Microsoft boosted by bullish Credit Suisse report on Windows Phone
Nokia’s Elop: Boosting Windows Phone volumes is the top priority
Rumour Mill: O2 reverses course, agrees to sell Nokia’s Lumia phones in Germany

FierceWireless

Nokia’s flagship Lumia 800 smartphone is generating little interest among European consumers so far, according to a survey by the French brokerage firm Exane BNP Paribas.

Click here for pictures and specs of Nokia’s Lumia 800.

The brokerage cut end-user sales forecasts of the Windows Phone-powered Nokia Lumia to just 800,000, significantly lower than its earlier “ballpark estimate” of 2 million sales, according to Reuters. This compares, said Exane BNP Paribas, with sales of between 3.5 million and 4 million for Nokia’s previous flagship smartphone, the N8, during the first quarter when it was available.

The company said that it had surveyed 1,300 consumers in five markets where the Nokia Lumia 800 had been offered for sale in the week beginning Dec. 5. However, BNP Paribas reduced the survey sample to 456 to those declaring an intention to purchase a smartphone in the next month.

“With only 2.2 per cent of surveyed buyers firmly intending to purchase the Lumia, Nokia’s first flagship Windows Phone is…far behind the current blockbusters, Apple’s iPhone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy S II,” said BNP Paribas analyst Alexander Peterc in a note to investors.

Following this information, the French brokerage firm cut its price target on Nokia shares to €3.30 from €3.70 and retained its underperform rating on the stock.

Nokia has said that it is pleased with the sales so far of the Lumia 800, and reported that the device sold out in the UK after going on sale there last month. So far the Lumia 800 is available in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.

For more:

- see this Reuters article

Related Articles:
Nokia claims Lumia sales excellent; UK sold out
Analysts predict lower-than-expected sales of Nokia’s Lumia smartphones
Nokia’s Elop: Boosting Windows Phone volumes is the top priority
Report: Nokia asks Goldman Sachs to sell off luxury Vertu unit

FierceWireless

Apple had mentioned Nokia in their press conference today regarding the iPhone 4. Nokia issued a statement on it’s own antenna design and function. They say that they have studied how people hold their phones, use specific materials and location of antenna. Just a few years ago it was common to see mobile phones with visible antenna, this style has been changed so that the mobile phone looks nicer.

*Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.

In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design.

As you read through that, you probably noticed a few gems. Like how Nokia was “the pioneer of internal antennas.” We’re not going to say that they weren’t, not by any means, but let’s just try to stay focused. A comment that’s more on track would be something like this: “we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.”

Steve
Jobs’ held a press conference today in which he offered free cases and
returns.

Consumer

Reports is not giving the iPhone their seal of approval and also
found Apple’s claim that the signal bars were
wrongly calculated was bogus.

Wireless and Mobile News’ “Review of
Reviews” of the 
iPhone 4 (AT&T) showed many good features, but also concerns
for the limited data plans as well as signal attenuation.

The
iPhone 4 had problems with
slow uploads.  Apple reported that they were stunned with the
south-paw attenuation/death grip and there was problem with signal bars
that would be fixed with a
software update. On almost every cell phone there can be signal
degradation from hands
blocking the antenna. We posted several videos that show

signal attenuation.

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FierceWireless