Nokia Q1 results reveal big losses, but US Lumia launches have exceeded expectations

Nokia's US President Chris Weber called the launch of the Lumia 710 "day one" of the company's Rolling Thunder strategy for reconquering the US smartphone market. That day came in the middle of December and has since been followed by a big showing by the Finnish phone maker at CES 2012 in early January, the launch of the Lumia 800 as a contract-free phone in February, and the recent release of the Lumia 900 as an AT&T flagship phone.

In light of all that activity, you'd hope things would be looking up for the company, but this morning's quarterly report shows that Nokia actually sold half as many phones in North America as last year: just 600,000 units. That's phones in general, broader than the smartphone category alone, which is what the new Windows Phone handsets are hoped to bolster. The Lumia 710, in particular, was priced aggressively at $49.99 with a T-Mobile contract and aimed to be a mass-market device.

Although we had been expecting Windows Phone "Tango" handsets to arrive this month, Nokia officially revealed today that it will launch its new Lumia 610 Windows Phone in the Philippines in the last week of April. Additional markets such as China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam will also get the Lumia 610 in the following weeks.

Microsoft's Windows Phone "Tango" phones are designed with China and other emerging markets in mind. Nokia's Lumia 610 includes an 800MHz processor and just 256MB of RAM, two key ways to reduce minimum hardware requirements for Windows Phone and lower costs. Nokia's Q1 2012 financial report showed that devices and services net sales dropped 70 percent year-on-year in Greater China, so Nokia will be hoping to see that improve over time with the introduction of its low-cost Windows Phones in the region. The company is also planning to release the Lumia 610 in additional markets this quarter, with an NFC-enabled version launching on Orange UK in Q3 2012.

Nokia said that the VP will stay with the company until June 30th, 2012 to help aid a smooth transition. Giles joined the company back in 1992 and last February was made one of 14 members of the Nokia Leadership Team, an elite group at the upper echelon of the company, chaired by Stephen Elop. He cites the desire to spend more time with his family as his reason for leaving. Along with the news, Nokia said in a prepared statement:

Nokia announced its Q1 2012 financial results today, reporting a loss of 590 million euro for the period. In it, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop admitted that certain markets, including the UK, have been "more challenging" than the US — despite large marketing campaigns involving TV, newspaper, and radio commercials. Discussing mixed sales results, Elop revealed that Nokia has "exceeded expectations" in the US with the launch of its Lumia 710 and 900 devices.