Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia will report its fourth-quarter 2013 earnings tomorrow, a seminal moment for the company as the figures will represent the last full period in which it will own the hardware assets that it is selling to Microsoft.

It also matters as Nokia’s Lumia Windows Phone sales in the quarter will provide a report card of sorts for Microsoft. Given that Nokia makes and sells the vast majority of Windows Phone devices, its sales are proxy for the larger market for the phones. So if Nokia had a good quarter selling Lumias, Microsoft had a good quarter selling Windows Phones.

Microsoft will report its earnings later in the day.

Nokia sold 8.8 million Lumia devices in the third quarter of 2013. Given extant growth trends, we would expect Nokia to sell more phones in the fourth quarter. Add the simple fact that the period includes the holiday sales cycle, and we expect another bump. This means that Nokia should sell — easily — more than 10 million Lumia handsets in the quarter.

The stakes here are high for Nokia, given that it’s hard to win in this context, but very easy to lose. If it sells 11.5 million handsets instead of 11 I doubt people will laud it. But a weak number could cast a pall. The irony is that the asset in question is what the company is selling, so a negative result may not have as sharp an impact on its share price as it otherwise might.

Investors are expecting Nokia to earn around €0.08 ($0.11) in the quarter on revenue of €6.4 billion ($8.671 billion). It will be interesting to parse the company’s earnings as it intends to mark the assets it is selling as discontinued businesses. Nokia will dramatically change once it and Microsoft clear the final regulatory hurdles that sit between their consummation.

For the full-year period, Nokia is expected to earn €0.07 ($0.09) (on aggregate revenue of €23.7 billion ($32.11 billion) in revenue. That latter figure is a firm decline from its 2012 tally of €30.2 billion ($40.92 billion). And Nokia, selling off another chunk of revenue, is about to slim again.

So that’s that. Keep your eye on the Lumia number, as it matters for both firms.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

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Earlier this year in November codenames of a handful of Nokia devices were leaked. It was rumored that the company was working on all of those devices and that it is expected to release those devices over the next couple of months, presumably before the acquisition of its devices and services business by Microsoft closes. One such device is believed to have the “Moneypenny” codename. A purported screenshot of this device reveals that it might have 4G LTE support and a minimum of 1GB RAM.

One can clearly see the 4G logo in this screenshot, which would serve as an indicator that the Lumia 635 is able to connect to LTE networks. Given that a tile for the Asphalt 8 game is seen in the screenshot, it is likely that the 635 will have 1GB of RAM due to the fact that this game hasn’t been optimized for WP devices with 512MB RAM as yet. Recently another screenshot of the rumored Moneypenny Lumia device was leaked, it showed off dual-SIM support. Nokia hasn’t confirmed anything about this devices as yet. Both of these screenshots were leaked on Twitter by serial leaker @evleaks, who has a solid track record when it comes to leaking information about unreleased devices.

Nokia Lumia 635 ‘Moneypenny’ Screenshot Hints At 4G Support original content from Ubergizmo.

The rumored Thanksgiving release date for the Lumia 929 from Nokia has come and gone, and now we’re seeing a new possible release date. This time word has it the 5″ phone will be released in mid- to late December. There’s also new photographic evidence of the phone’s existence. Windows Phone fans (and observers) are […]

Recently a few codenames for several unreleased Nokia smartphones were leaked, “Moneypenny” was one of them. Interesting choice codename there, straight out of James Bond. Nevertheless, its highly unlikely that the codename is going to be used as the official branding for this Lumia device, whenever it is released. At this point in time not much is known about these devices, but according to the ever trustworthy Twitter leaker @evleaks, Nokia is also planning a dual-SIM variant of its “Moneypenny” device.

The possibility of a dual-SIM variant raises a few questions. For example, is this device going to be a high-end Lumia device that just so happens to be available in dual-SIM as well or if its a low-end device with the dual-SIM variant. In markets where such variants are often released, its common to see low end smartphones with dual-SIM capabilities, high-end devices usually don’t come in this particular configuration. @Evleaks has also said that this will one of the first few devices that will come with Windows Phone Blue pre-installed. Windows Phone Blue is a major update for Microsoft’s mobile operating system that’s due early next year. Given the fact that Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services division has been approved, its likely that this device might not come with Nokia’s name on it, though Microsoft is free to use the Asha and Lumia brands as it pleases.

Nokia ‘Moneypenny’ Dual-SIM Variant Rumored original content from Ubergizmo.