Silicon Investor - Nokia (NOK)

[Sr K] Ericsson to Pay Nokia $97.2 Million to Settle Damages Claim The claim related t...

Sr K — 5/16/2021 9:28:58 AM

Ericsson to Pay Nokia $97.2 Million to Settle Damages Claim

The claim related to previously announced allegations that it violated U.S. antibribery law, Ericsson says

wsj.com

Ericsson said its Nokia settlement will hit its second-quarter earnings before interest and tax by €80 million and cash flow by €26 million.PHOTO: OLOF SWAHNBERG/REUTERS

By
Dominic Chopping

May 12, 2021 2:26 pm ET

STOCKHOLM— Ericsson AB said it would pay Nokia Corp. €80 million, equivalent to $97.2 million, to settle a damages claim relating to previously announced allegations that it violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In 2019, Ericsson settled probes by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department into allegations of corruption in China, Djibouti, Indonesia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

The resolution with the Justice Department related to criminal charges of books and records and internal controls violations of the FCPA in five countries, including in Djibouti, and a guilty plea to one instance of bribery in Djibouti.

The resolution with the SEC related to allegations of violations of the books and records and internal controls provision of the FCPA in six countries and of the bribery provision of the FCPA in three of those six countries.

Ericsson said the settlement amount announced Wednesday reflects “uncertainty, risk, expense, and potential distraction from business focus associated with a potentially lengthy and complex litigation.”

A Nokia spokesman said Ericsson’s statement about the settlement was accurate. “We have no further comment,” he said.

The settlement will hit Ericsson’s second-quarter earnings before interest and tax by €80 million and cash flow by €26 million, Ericsson said.

Further details of the terms of the settlement are confidential, Ericsson said.

Excerpt

[Zbyte] What does today's India court ruling mean for NOK? nasdaq.com

Zbyte — 3/14/2014 8:24:06 PM

[sylvester80] Nokia sees smartphone sales, profits plunge in Q4 finance.yahoo.com

sylvester80 — 1/23/2014 7:47:51 AM

[sylvester80] Nokia network sales fall 22 percent finance.yahoo.com

sylvester80 — 1/23/2014 7:41:53 AM

[sylvester80] $3... Nokia Says Lumia & Other Phone Sales Declined In Q4 As It Prepares To Sell...

sylvester80 — 1/23/2014 7:41:38 AM

$3... Nokia Says Lumia & Other Phone Sales Declined In Q4 As It Prepares To Sell Division To Microsoft
Posted 1 hour ago by Natasha Lomas( @riptari)
techcrunch.com

In what is likely to be Nokia’s last quarterly earnings before it hands off its mobile phone making business to Microsoft, the Finnish mobile maker has reported lower sales of Lumia devices in its Q4. The company also reported a non-IFRS operating profit of €408 million — but based mainly on its NSN equipment business. So the decision to cut loose its mobile phone making business looks to be vindicated by these results.

Nokia’s adjusted operating profit in the quarter was €274 million — €243 million of which came from NSN. Its non-IFRS EPS was €0.08.

In a preview of the earnings, TC’s Alex Wilhelm suggested Nokia should easily sell more than 10 million Lumias in what was after all the holiday quarter.

In the event Nokia has not broken out a figure for sales of the Windows Phone devices — noting only a decline in Smart Devices net sales (and also in basic Mobile Phones net sales), so presumably it sold less than the 8.8 million Lumia reported last quarter.

The year-on-year decline in discontinued operations net sales in the fourth quarter 2013 was primarily due to lower Mobile Phones net sales and, to a lesser extent, lower Smart Devices net sales. Our Mobile Phones net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics, including intense smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points and intense competition at the low end of our product portfolio. Our Smart Devices net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics including the strong momentum of competing smartphone platforms, as well as our portfolio transition from Symbian products to Lumia products.

In its previous earnings report, for its fiscal Q3, Nokia reported a surprise profit of €118 million ($160 million), with 8.8 million Lumia smartphones sold in the quarter — up from 7.4 million Lumias sold in its Q2. Nokia made an operating loss of €115 million ($156 million) in that quarter.

In its Q1 Nokia reported 5.6 million Lumias sold — so sales of its Lumia devices were gradually increasing, quarter on quarter. Its Q4 results apparently reverse that trend — and make Nokia’s decision to hand-off its phone business to Microsoft look like a solid one.

Back in September Nokia announced it would sell substantially all of its phone making business to Microsoft. That transaction is still expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

Commenting on the Q4 results in a statement, Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia Chairman and interim CEO said: “The fourth quarter of 2013 was a watershed moment in Nokia’s history. Having received overwhelmingly strong support from our shareholders at our extraordinary general meeting in November for the sale of our phones business to Microsoft, we are diligently working towards defining Nokia’s future direction. I am pleased with the progress we have made thus far in our strategy evaluation and excited by the opportunities ahead for each of our three continuing businesses: NSN, HERE and Advanced Technologies.

“During the fourth quarter, Nokia’s continuing businesses produced a healthy underlying operating margin of 12%. While the first quarter of the year is seasonally weak for our continuing operations, we continue to expect the closing of the Microsoft transaction to significantly improve Nokia’s earnings profile.”

Nokia, once the world’s biggest mobile maker, suffered a huge fall from favour, following its February 2011 decision to switch to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform for smartphone devices and away from its own software. Its total smartphone sales declined for the first time in its Q1 that year, and that decline was followed by a run of loss-making quarters as Nokia transitioned from Symbian to Windows Phone, a task made harder by shrinking cash reserves and a series of deep and damaging job cuts.

Finally, last fall, Nokia made the decision to cut its losses and exit the phone-making game — selling the division to Microsoft for €3.79 billion (and agreeing a patent licensing deal for a further €1.65 billion) – to concentrate its efforts on other portions of its business: namely its NSN networking division; HERE maps; its patents & ongoing R&D efforts under a division called Advanced Technologies.

Nokia said today that its NSN business is now “fundamentally different” to the one it started restructuring two years ago. The division posted an IFRS-adjusted profit of €243 million for the quarter, and looks poised to be the focal engine for Nokia’s future growth, post-phones.

Its HERE maps division posted an IFRS-adjusted profit of €18 million — making it a very small fish in Nokia’s pond right now (hence the talk of “long-term transformational growth opportunities”). Nokia added that it is planning to increase investment levels in HERE in 2014.

Advanced Technologies, responsible for Nokia’s IP licensing efforts, posted an IFRS-adjusted profit of €65 million.

For the Windows Phone platform, the last three+ years has been a long and bloody road to building out its stated aim of becoming a third ecosystem to compete with Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Nokia’s phone-making business is undoubtedly the biggest casualty of that effort (along with Nokia’s homegrown Symbian platform — formerly the largest global smartphone OS).

However a drop in Lumia sales in a holiday quarter is undoubtedly a blow for Microsoft’s mobile ambitions as it prepares to take over Nokia’s mobile making division. It’s not the Windows Phone momentum story the new Microsoft CEO will have been wanting to shout about when he or she takes over.

[Road Walker] Wonder where NOK would be trading about now, without the MSFT buyout?

Road Walker — 12/30/2013 1:46:33 PM

[greenbeemer] Cool. I've been using Instance until now.

greenbeemer — 12/7/2013 1:29:09 PM

[zax] First Jolla smartphone from former Nokia staff goes on sale by ...

zax — 11/27/2013 3:50:25 PM

First Jolla smartphone from former Nokia staff goes on sale
by Daniel Robinson

27 Nov 2013

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2309655/first-jolla-smartphone-from-former-nokia-staff-goes-on-sale

Jolla, the smartphone startup founded by ex-Nokia engineers, is set to sell its first handsets from today in Finland, with availability in other countries to follow.

The Jolla handset runs the Sailfish OS, which is itself based on the former MeeGo platform developed by Nokia and Intel several years ago to produce Linux-based smartphone software.

Jolla confirmed that the devices will go on sale today at an event organised by Finnish telecoms operator DNA. The firm did not indicate when it would be available elsewhere, but has previously said that it has received online preorders from 136 countries.

The device sports a fairly mid-range specification, with a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, 1GB memory and 16GB of flash storage, plus a 4.5in 960x540 in-plane switching (IPS) touchscreen with Gorilla 2 Glass.

It has the usual mobile network support, including GSM/3G/4G support that is good across 6 continents, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth, 8MP autofocus rear camera and 2MP front camera. SIM-free pricing is expected to be €399 (about £330).

However, the main differentiator for the Jolla handset is its Sailfish OS platform. Its gesture-based user interface has been designed to support live multitasking, according to the firm, with a startup wizard that guides the user to select the applications they actually want rather than the device coming preloaded with bloatware.

Jolla also promised that frequent system updates will be provided for the Sailfish OS platform, which will be available for install over-the-air. It also integrates Nokia's Here mapping and positioning technology.

Availability of applications can be a major issue for new platforms launching into the increasingly competitive smartphone market, as BlackBerry has been discovering with its BlackBerry 10. However, Jolla users can download Android applications from the integrated Yandex app store and run these thanks to a built-in Android runtime provided by Myriad Group AG, Jolla said.

[FJB] Instagram now available on Windows Phone 8

FJB — 11/21/2013 10:16:59 PM

[Zbyte] This has turned into a dead board and NOK is popping. What is up.

Zbyte — 11/18/2013 9:40:17 AM

[FJB] Hands-on: Vine beats Instagram to Windows Phone 8

FJB — 11/13/2013 12:38:34 AM

[FJB] India asks IBM to pay $866 million in outstanding tax: reports

FJB — 11/6/2013 1:33:54 PM

[AreWeThereYet] The OS is not drap, the marketing is. WP runs more smoothly than Android on sa...

AreWeThereYet — 11/6/2013 10:04:49 AM

The OS is not drap, the marketing is. WP runs more smoothly than Android on same hardware spec. Regardless, there is no point to talk about the phone business in Nokia thread as it should really belongs to Microsoft thread.

[Road Walker] Hmm, sure shoulda stuck with NOK, trading premarket $7.90. I sold most around $6...

Road Walker — 11/6/2013 9:01:04 AM

Hmm, sure shoulda stuck with NOK, trading premarket $7.90. I sold most around $6.70. Shouda, woulda, coulda.

[pyslent] Based upon indicators I'm seeing, NOK's Q3 volumes will surprise positively. Top...

pyslent — 10/29/2013 8:55:07 AM

Based upon indicators I'm seeing, NOK's Q3 volumes will surprise positively. Top end of market has broad representation with nl 920, 925, 928 and 1020, and as we know nl 520/521 has been sizzling. My take is that NOK will easily double Q2's US volumes in Q3 as NOK's upward momentum in the US gains strength.

I was wrong to doubt the predictive power of Amazon :). Nokia reported Q3 volumes of 1.4million, up from 0.5 million sequentially, on ASP of around $210 (down from $367 sequentially).
results.nokia.com

I took a crack at guessing the mix after making some assumptions on ASP for the high and low end models.

Sadly, while you were right about US sales volumes, I was right about the deleterious effect of too many 520 sales. Lumia GM plunged to 16%, now well below the GM% of feature phones (21%).

[FWS] These are the things that are important to me: The buildout of LTE for wireless...

FWS — 10/4/2013 9:18:33 PM

These are the things that are important to me:

The buildout of LTE for wireless networks,
connected cars,
mapping and indoor location,
The rise of apps waiting for indoor location to be perfected
sensors (havent heard too much about that But I get a feeling its important to them),
advanced technologies,
Patent licensing and monetization
NSN margins,
HERE licensing, profits and margins

Reinstituting a dividend of some kind,
The return of real earnings
The return of a strong capital structure
A Focus on Rewarding shareholders in some fashion.

[Road Walker] Well marketing works, at least temporarily. Samsung spent the bucks... I've neve...

Road Walker — 10/4/2013 5:38:10 PM

Well marketing works, at least temporarily. Samsung spent the bucks... I've never seen a continuous 10 page full page ad in the NYT, for anything. It's crazy expensive.

This is not posting 30 videos on YouTube, this is slam advertising. Apple probably doesn't need to do it, they've got the mojo. But the Nokia brand? Can you imagine MS running 10 consecutive full page ads for Nokia cell phones in the NYT? No way.

Game over. I'm not happy that the coolest company in the industry is gonna die.

[pyslent] " Today, Samsung had a 10 consecutive full page ad in the New York Times. Will N...

pyslent — 10/4/2013 4:50:17 PM

"
Today, Samsung had a 10 consecutive full page ad in the New York Times. Will Nokia get that kind of support? I doubt it."

Nokia and Microsoft have not been stingy about marketing. They have paid promotional considerations on every show on primetime.

The question is whether it has helped. Seems like they are pushing on a rope.

[zax] Not only will they get that kind of support, they will get a major retail channe...

zax — 10/4/2013 4:35:42 PM

Not only will they get that kind of support, they will get a major retail channel of their own.

I'm posting my Nokia handset related stories to various other threads.

[Road Walker] Boy, this thread went dead. I wonder if that's a indication of Nokia's future un...

Road Walker — 10/4/2013 4:32:32 PM

Boy, this thread went dead. I wonder if that's a indication of Nokia's future under MS?

Today, Samsung had a 10 consecutive full page ad in the New York Times. Will Nokia get that kind of support? I doubt it.

[pyslent] Canaccord Smartphone sales rankings in the US for Sept Easy come easy go. The b...

pyslent — 10/4/2013 1:28:06 PM

Canaccord Smartphone sales rankings in the US for Sept

Easy come easy go. The big price cuts in September didn't help Nokia's fortunes in the US. It's a troubling pattern to see Lumia's star shine brightly for such a short period of time with every "hero" phone launch. You'd think that Windows Phone's impressive satisfaction ratings would translate to word-of-mouth sales and building momentum, but that doesn't seem to happen. The die hards come out for the launch, but then sales fizzle.

From august: Welcome Nokia back to the charts. The Lumia 1020 – known for its spectacular 41MP camera – caught the eye of AT&T customers in its debut month.

[FJB] India freezes Nokia assets over alleged unpaid tax Could impact Microsoft deal, ...

FJB — 10/2/2013 1:39:00 AM

India freezes Nokia assets over alleged unpaid tax
Could impact Microsoft deal, well, a bit

Read more: techeye.net

Indian tax authorities have jumped on Nokia, freezing some of the company's assets over an allegedly unpaid tax bill.

The Indian Income Tax Department, the Wall Street Journal reports, wants to make sure Nokia has enough cash in the bank to pay roughly 39.97 billion rupees - a hefty, but not unmanageable, $365 million.

If the tax bill isn't sorted out, the whole palaver could impact Nokia's sale of its handset business to Microsoft. It has a manufacturing plant in the southern state of India Nadu, which happens to be one of its biggest. Some of the frozen assets were included in Microsoft's $7 billion Nokia buyout.

The company still sells in the country at a high volume, and it is just behind China in market value for Nokia.

But Nokia spokesperson Brett Young told the WSJ he was quietly confident. "Nokia has sufficient assets in India to meet its tax obligations, details of which will be shared with the tax authorities to allay any concerns they may have".

"We went to court, and got a ruling in our favour on Thursday, the bank accounts were unfrozen," Young sort-of explained.

It's unlikely the assets will heavily impact on the deal but they could complicate it, and potentially put off other top investors from India, analysts warn. But the Indian state is steadfast in going after perceived tax evasions from foreign companies, including Vodafone, Cadbury, Royal Dutch Shell, General Electric, and BMW AG.

[pyslent] Cheers back to you Eric, I did know that the Windows figures were contaminated...

pyslent — 9/30/2013 7:48:44 PM

Cheers back to you Eric,

I did know that the Windows figures were contaminated by contributions from Windows Mobile, but did not have exact figures. Either way, the point is clear-- Microsoft has a tough row to hoe to truly break free of the gravitational pull that 3% US share seems to hold on its mobile influence.

I can't say that I have much confidence that the following will materially change their fortunes here. I don't know what will. Instagram is the reason my wife's 3 month experiment with a Lumia 521 failed (she got her first iPhone yesterday, and she went from a $10/mo incremental adder on my T-Mobile family plan to a $90/mo standalone Verizon sub. Oh well, she seems much happier).

"GDR 3 with quad-core Scorpion and higher resolution display support can't come to soon for Nokia (and Microsoft) for their US flagship models."

[Eric L] Windows Mobile and WinPhone US Share ... Psy, I'm sure you are aware, but it...

Eric L — 9/30/2013 4:51:34 PM

Windows Mobile and WinPhone US Share ...

Psy,

I'm sure you are aware, but it should be noted that the Kantar US 'Windows' share numbers for 2011 and through July 2012 you abstracted include the legacy Windows Mobile OS as well as Windows Phone. Some pundits stated that as late as May 2012 Windows Mobile devices were outselling Windows Phone devices in the US. While for 3mo ending periods of January through March2012 that was likely the case but Kantar's numbers for later months tell a different story.

Below are abstracts from the 3 Kantar reports published in mid-2012 estimating Windows Phone and Windows Mobile Sales expressed as a percentage of total US smartphone sales for three 12 week periods beginning in mid-February and ending in mid-May, June, and July of 2011 and 2012 ....

========================================================================================
 12 Weeks    ||   Total Windows  | Windows |  Windows || % of Windows Devices Sold in US
  Ending     ||     Devices      |  Phone  |  Mobile  ||  Windows Phone | Windows Mobile
============ || ================ | ======= |  ======= ||  ============= | ==============
15 May 2011  || 2.6% of US Sales |  1.8%   |   0.8%   ||       69%      |     31%
-------------||------------------|---------|----------||----------------|---------------
13 May 2012  || 4.0% of US Sales |  3.6%   |   0.4%   ||       90%      |     10%
========================================================================================
12 June 2011 || 2.6% of US Sales |  1.8%   |   0.8%   ||       69%      |     31%
-------------||------------------|---------|----------||----------------|---------------
10 June 2012 || 3.6% of US Sales |  3.0%   |   0.6%   ||       83%      |     17%
========================================================================================
10 July 2011 || 3.3% of US Sales |  0.6%   |   1.2%   ||       64%      |     36%
-------------||------------------|---------|----------||----------------|---------------
08 July 2012 || 2.9% of US Sales |  2.3%   |   0.6%   ||       79%      |     21%
========================================================================================

Links for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech source data in the abstracted tables above:

• kantarworldpanel.com

• kantarworldpanel.com

• kantarworldpanel.com

Nokia of course never shipped Windows Mobile devices and their 1st Windows Phone 7.5 devices began to be sold out in the US in January 2012 (on TMo USA) and their single relatively high end WinPhone 7 device began sales on AT&T in April 2012 then stalled when it was announced that the Mango/Tango devices would not be upgradeable to WinPhone 8.

GDR 3 with quad-core Scorpion and higher resolution display support can't come to soon for Nokia (and Microsoft) for their US flagship models.

Cheers,

- Eric -

[pyslent] There and Back Again: Kantar's numbers for Windows Market Share in the US and MS...

pyslent — 9/30/2013 3:52:57 PM

There and Back Again: Kantar's numbers for Windows Market Share in the US and MSFT Continuing to Bang Its Head against the wall.

Nokia has been pursuing a hero phone strategy with the 900, 920, and now the 928 without much to show for it. It's also launched a few unmemorable models at the mid-tier (8xx, 7xx). The 521 represents it's latest attempt to find a niche and build a base. Gotta give them credit for trying different strategies rather than keep banging their heads against the wall.

Compiled from Kantar's monthly reports over the past year.

[FWS] Thank you. Great interview. Vehicle connectivity is a new frontier and a huge m...

FWS — 9/28/2013 12:06:00 PM

Thank you. Great interview. Vehicle connectivity is a new frontier and a huge market. I dont know where it leads, but this is a large addressable market that will drive concurrent innovation in both the mapping and cell phone and wireless industry.

[Road Walker] Is Ford’s Alan Mulally Now in the Lead to Be New CEO of Microsoft? Published on ...

Road Walker — 9/27/2013 4:12:37 PM

Is Ford’s Alan Mulally Now in the Lead to Be New CEO of Microsoft?
Published on September 26, 2013
by Kara Swisher

According to sources close to the situation, Ford CEO Alan Mulally has vaulted to the forefront of the candidates to become the new CEO of Microsoft.

Earlier this month, the well-known leader of the car maker categorically denied he was leaving the Detroit company in an email to me, writing: “I continue to be focused on serving Ford … and I have my red Ford vest on right now!!”

The typically ebullient Mulally was referring to the iconic sweater he often appears in with a Ford logo on it.

People with knowledge of the situation said that while the 68-year-old Mulally — who has been CEO of Ford for seven years and is a well-known business star — was not seeking the job at first, he has become more amenable to the idea in recent weeks.

Among the factors: Mulally was a former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the Seattle area and has long wanted to return there, where he continues to keep a home. In addition, he was a close adviser to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in his recent effort to create a new management structure for the company.

In another interesting move, earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Ford board had given Mulally the ability to step down earlier from his position than is called for in his contract. Some speculated at the time that it could point to a position in the Obama administration.

Or perhaps in a big tech company in desperate need of a jolt.

Heidrick & Struggles has been conducting its search for a top exec to take over for Ballmer, who announced in August that he was stepping down within the year from his longtime post.

Soon after, Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2 billion and it was thought that its CEO, Stephen Elop, was the top contender — I even called him the one to beat — given the huge deal and his former experience at the company.

Sources said that while Elop has remained a top candidate, there has been a shift in recent weeks toward Mulally, who has much turnaround experience.

The other top internal exec in contention, said sources, is Microsoft exec Tony Bates, who had previously been CEO of Skype. Externally, several sources said former Microsoft exec and current Pivotal CEO Paul Maritz had been contacted.

Sources said Mulally has not entered formal contract negotiations with Microsoft, but that discussions with him about the job have been serious.

One person critical to the decision will be Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, who stepped away from his role as CEO many years ago. Five years ago, he left full-time work there to focus on his huge charitable organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

But sources said that Gates has been spending more time at Microsoft over the last several weeks. He is also on the special committee to pick the new CEO and is, of course, one of Microsoft’s biggest shareholders.

Also, he is, well, Bill Gates.

Microsoft declined to comment and Mulally — who is one of my favorite CEOs since he returns emails and answers questions on the record — has yet to do so.

But a Ford spokesman said Jay Cooney declined to comment on “speculation” and said that there is “no change from what we announced in November,” that Mulally’s tenure has been planned to run through 2014.

We’ll see about that! But, until then, here’s the video of a sassy interview that Mulally gave to Walt Mossberg and me in 2010 at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference:

[niceguy767] Microsoft Deal Pushing Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) For Approaching Alcate...

niceguy767 — 9/26/2013 7:41:17 AM

Microsoft Deal Pushing Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) For Approaching Alcatel-Lucent

efinancehub.com

[Zen Dollar Round] Conversely, not all products fail due to crappiness. But thanks for your always ...

Zen Dollar Round — 9/24/2013 11:44:00 PM

Conversely, not all products fail due to crappiness. But thanks for your always valuable insight nonetheless.

Anytime!

Sorry you have taken such personal offense at my opinion of Windows Phone. I think it's crap and you do not. So far, the market seems to be saying they prefer Android and iOS.

[pyslent] "Perceived superiority does not a successful product make. " Conversely, not al...

pyslent — 9/24/2013 11:39:21 PM

"Perceived superiority does not a successful product make. "

Conversely, not all products fail due to crappiness. But thanks for your always valuable insight nonetheless.

[Zen Dollar Round] Huh, maybe you aren't aware, but I happen to like windows phone. Most windows p...

Zen Dollar Round — 9/24/2013 11:29:49 PM

Huh, maybe you aren't aware, but I happen to like windows phone. Most windows phone users are very happy, with a satisfaction rating that ranks up there with Apple. It's failing for a lot of reasons, but I see no evidence that it's due to "crappiness." Thanks for your well-researched opinion, though.

I hear most Sony Betamax users were happy, as were Amiga and BeOS users.

Perceived superiority does not a successful product make. Windows Phone is going the way of the dodo, get used to it.

[pyslent] Huh, maybe you aren't aware, but I happen to like windows phone. Most windows ph...

pyslent — 9/24/2013 11:13:06 PM

Huh, maybe you aren't aware, but I happen to like windows phone. Most windows phone users are very happy, with a satisfaction rating that ranks up there with Apple. It's failing for a lot of reasons, but I see no evidence that it's due to "crappiness." Thanks for your well-researched opinion, though.

[Zen Dollar Round] Good hardware running a crap OS. Lumias would have had a chance in the marketpl...

Zen Dollar Round — 9/24/2013 8:36:16 PM

Good hardware running a crap OS.

Lumias would have had a chance in the marketplace if they ran Android. Android is also crap, mostly due to malware and fragmentation, but a lot of people seem to like it and it doesn't use a brain dead tile concept for a UI.

[pyslent] Adduplex results from September: the death of the high end Lumia Similarly even ...

pyslent — 9/24/2013 7:35:27 PM

Adduplex results from September: the death of the high end Lumia
Similarly even in the US market, where the Nokia Lumia 928, Nokia Lumia 925 and Nokia Lumia 1020 have been released, there appears to be limited impact. Surprisingly the Nokia Lumia 925, on sale on both T-Mobile and AT&T, does not even appear on the chart at all.

wmpoweruser.com

[zax] U.S. trade panel judge says HTC violates Nokia patent [graphic] Reuters – 18 min...

zax — 9/23/2013 6:40:10 PM

U.S. trade panel judge says HTC violates Nokia patent

Reuters – 18 minutes ago

finance.yahoo.com

Visitors walk past a HTC sign at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 14, 2011. REUTERS/Albert Gea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - HTC Corporation infringed on two Nokia Corp patents in making its mobile telephones and tablets, a judge said in a preliminary ruling issued on Monday for the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Taiwan-based HTC was found to have infringed two patents which have to do with signals sent or received by mobile telephones and tablets.

The full ITC is scheduled to make a final decision on the matter on January 23, 2014. Finland's Nokia filed the complaint last year.

Nokia asked the ITC, which is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can more easily ban infringing products from the United States, to block a variety of HTC products from the U.S. market.

These products include the HTC Amaze 4G, the Inspire 4G, Flyer, Jetstream, Radar 4G, Rezound and Sensation 4G, according to the complaint filed by Nokia with the ITC.

"Nokia is pleased that the initial determination of the ITC confirmed that HTC has infringed two of our patents," said Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant in an emailed statement.

The case at the International Trade Commission is No 847.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Tim Dobbyn)

[zax] Thanks. The killing I'm making short BRRY gives me some nice consolation in not...

zax — 9/20/2013 10:07:08 PM

Thanks. The killing I'm making short BRRY gives me some nice consolation in not having seen that last dollar of Nokia upside that you have so enjoyed.

[niceguy767] Good on you! Fabulous call....or should I say put!

niceguy767 — 9/20/2013 6:08:12 PM

[zax] Thanks. I had very strong conviction... bought some Oct 4 puts this morning. [T...

zax — 9/20/2013 4:49:33 PM

Thanks. I had very strong conviction... bought some Oct 4 puts this morning.

Filled Buy to Open  BBRY Oct 04 2013 9.5 Put  Limit 0.36  --  -- 11:33:59 09/20/13

BBRY Jan 2015 5.000 put (BBRY150117P00005000) -OPR

0.60 +0.25(+71.43%) 3:56PM EDT

[Road Walker] Congrats on your short of BBRY.

Road Walker — 9/20/2013 3:39:41 PM

[pcstel] Taking my money.... Can't turn down the gains. PCSTEL

pcstel — 9/20/2013 12:28:27 PM

[pcstel] My Jun 2014 Calls now zeroing in on a 10 bagger. If you bought the stock long. ...

pcstel — 9/19/2013 10:52:27 PM

My Jun 2014 Calls now zeroing in on a 10 bagger. If you bought the stock long. You would only have a three bagger.....

Sometimes, it's good to be a loser.....

And so it goes,

PCSTEL

[Road Walker] Ok out. Thanks Nokia and everyone on the thread. I still think, as an independen...

Road Walker — 9/18/2013 6:15:03 PM

Ok out. Thanks Nokia and everyone on the thread. I still think, as an independent company, Nokia could have been a superstar. Great employees, weak management, very weak marketing/branding. I really hope MS doesn't kill the spirit of innovation that produced the 808 and other great stuff. But I fear....

Good luck folks. Hope to see ya'll on the profitable side of another investment.

[niceguy767] NOK is very low risk now that D&S has been sold. And yes, rumours of a special d...

niceguy767 — 9/18/2013 6:10:26 PM

NOK is very low risk now that D&S has been sold. And yes, rumours of a special dividend coupled with a price well above the magic $5 level for institutions seem to has precipitated a great deal of interest at current price level.

valuewalk.com

[Road Walker] $6.70 last I looked. No clue what fair value of the new Nokia will be, or if the...

Road Walker — 9/18/2013 3:34:11 PM

$6.70 last I looked. No clue what fair value of the new Nokia will be, or if they plan a dividend with that cash. Debating if/when to sell off the last... the markets have me feeling cautious, even with a generous Fed.

[sylvester80] Good for you guys still in it. I moved to greener pastures. GLTA.

sylvester80 — 9/18/2013 7:45:18 AM

[niceguy767] Hey Syl, NOK is flirting with recent high terrain of $6.44 to $6.47 in pre-marke...

niceguy767 — 9/18/2013 7:08:57 AM

Hey Syl, NOK is flirting with recent high terrain of $6.44 to $6.47 in pre-market this AM. Sure looks like NOK wants to enter higher terrain soon!

[neolib] Nokia was playing with Android, what a surprise. One wonders if this motivated ...

neolib — 9/16/2013 1:15:08 PM

Nokia was playing with Android, what a surprise. One wonders if this motivated MSFT at all, LOL!

theinquirer.net

[FWS] press.nokia.com Published August 1, 2013 | By Nokia - Press Release HERE deliv...

FWS — 9/14/2013 11:40:30 AM

press.nokia.com

Published August 1, 2013 | By Nokia - Press Release

HERE delivers precise indoor location content to Qualcomm

Qualcomm IZat employs HERE Venue Maps to improve indoor positioning for location-based appsEspoo, Finland - HERE, a Nokia business, today announced that it will make available its indoor Venue Maps to Qualcomm Atheros, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. Leveraging indoor map data from HERE that is tightly coupled to the core indoor positioning engine will help Qualcomm IZat(TM) location technologies deliver more precise positioning (within 3-5 meters) to mobile devices inside buildings.

Improving the overall indoor location experience for consumers, this combination is expected to accelerate the development and use of compelling location-based experiences as well as promotions in shopping malls, transportation hubs and entertainment venues around the globe."

In our quest to deliver location awareness everywhere, Qualcomm Atheros is propagating indoor location capabilities to ensure the best possible experiences in a wide variety of places," said Cormac Conroy, vice president of the mobile, computing and location business unit at Qualcomm Atheros. "Our collaboration with HERE complements the capabilities of our IZat location platform to deliver the exceptional accuracy that is required for businesses and app developers looking for ways to reach mobile consumers and create additional revenue opportunities from location-based services."

To map buildings, HERE mapmakers visit venues from airports to zoos to sports complexes, museums and other facilities around the world to ensure map data is precise and no detail is forgotten. They collect building floor plans and then validate against the real world which includes double-checking the names of points of interest and ensuring that rich features such as ATM machines, restrooms and escalators are included."Indoor spaces are among the new frontiers in mapping and HERE is uniquely positioned to bring its global leadership in outdoor mapping to inside venues," said Cliff Fox, senior vice president of Location Content at HERE. "Not only have we been the first to map some of the most recognized buildings in the world, but we also offer the world's broadest coverage of indoor spaces with currently more than 9,000 venues consisting of 50,000 unique buildings mapped in 69 countries. With our continuously expanding reach in coverage and focus on efforts to improve accuracy, we can support Qualcomm Atheros in its quest to provide access to accurate location information and services to consumers as they move about venues."Venue Maps complement Qualcomm Atheros' end-to-end IZat indoor positioning capabilities to deliver always-on location awareness to mobile devices in more places.

IZat is comprised of Qualcomm Atheros' broad technology portfolio, including cellular, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), Wi-Fi, sensor and cloud-based assistance solutions, as well as its widely deployed location core, already found in more than one billion devices on mobile networks worldwide.- See more at: press.nokia.com

[FWS] directionsmag.com Indoor Location: The Mobile Revolution Starts Now Monday, Ju...

FWS — 9/14/2013 11:26:55 AM

directionsmag.com

Indoor Location: The Mobile Revolution Starts Now

Monday, June 24th 2013

Summary:Indoor location technology has become such a huge market that it is actually bigger than its outdoor counterpart, if you include commercial buildings, where it helps consumers find their way to a store or to an item on their shopping list and much more.

After the huge success of GPS, indoor location is today the next killer technology, reinventing the location services industry market, mobile advertising, app development and the entire mobile ecosystem itself.

Indoor location is a true revolution that cannot be ignored anymore and paves the way for new and innovative services that will enable a smooth end-to-end user experience (from outdoor to indoor and vice-versa), better security, improved productivity and efficiency of mobile tools, and much more…

The future of mobile location-based services lies in its rapid adoption of indoor technologies.

For more than 20 years, the use of global positioning system, or GPS, has been the gold standard for outdoor navigation. The satellite-based navigation system has become the indispensable tool for anyone to determine their location outside of a building, in a car, on motorways, in the street…

More recently, cell-phone manufacturers have added GPS capabilities to mobile devices which in turn, created new opportunities for existing location-based services (LBS) such as mapping and navigation. While the quick rise of smartphones, and the easy access to more context-aware information, has changed forever the way people live, travel and shop.

But as we rely even more on our smartphone for everyday life, the physical limitations of GPS, which doesn't work in indoor environments or between tall buildings in dense urban areas, are becoming a real challenge for the next generation of LBS applications.

Simply put, for GPS to work, it requires a clear view of the sky, where a receiver has an unobstructed line of sight to satellites, meaning that all the mobile location-based apps, like navigation for example, won't work indoors, inside airports, malls, museums, subways, etc., which is where we actually need them the most, as we spend a majority of our time indoor. It also happens that 80% of smartphone usage is done inside buildings, making an even stronger case for bringing location technologies indoor.

So, it shouldn't come to a surprise then, that, indoor location has gained a huge market traction in the past 2 years. First, in professional environments, with employees or equipment location services where indoor location improved efficiency and security. But also, in the broad consumer market where context-aware services have become a key differentiator to interact and engage with potential customers, as they get closer to a retail store, for example. Analyst firm ABI research predicts that by 2017, the indoor location technology market will reach $5 billion in revenues, represent over 200,000 installations of infrastructure equipment, including Wi-Fi hotspots, Bluetooth antennas, etc., and over 800 million branded applications downloads.

Indoor location technology has become such a huge market that it is actually bigger than its outdoor counterpart, if you include commercial buildings, where it helps consumers find their way to a store or to an item on their shopping list and much more.

After the huge success of GPS, indoor location is today the next killer technology, reinventing the location services industry market, mobile advertising, app development and the entire mobile ecosystem itself.

Indoor location is a true revolution that cannot be ignored anymore and paves the way for new and innovative services that will enable a smooth end-to-end user experience (from outdoor to indoor and vice-versa), better security, improved productivity and efficiency of mobile tools, and much more…From early adopters to a mature marketIn 2012, the indoor location market has finally reached maturity, overcoming its main technological barriers which drove, for the first time in its history, large scale deployments at airports, museums and malls.

Here are the key milestones that made the tipping point actually happen: • Installations of indoor location services became of excellent quality, available from numerous providers on the market today• Indoor location apps are now mainstream for iPhone and Android devices, covering already about 80% of the smartphone market•

Because of the rapid market penetration and adoption of smartphones, indoor location services no longer require the use of a specific and separate mobile device, even in professional environments•

Low cost and easy to implement technologies are now widely available, making it easier for all sorts of venues, like shopping centres, airports, rail stations, subways or museums to integrate indoor location technology in their respective mobile apps and bring real added value to customers•

Efficient tools and open software development kits (SDK) allow for any application developers to deploy themselves indoor location services, in their venue or their customers • The fusion of multiple technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy and GPS, along with specific ones already integrated in smartphones (accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, and pressure sensor acting as an altimeter) allowed to overcome the main technical barriers that prevented indoor location to be successful in the market.

Today, it's finally possible to address 100% of an indoor venue, at a low cost and independently of their Wi-Fi network density• Finally, the performance reached by indoor location technologies has now surpassed GPS for the outdoors. So much that indoor location today is more accurate than outdoor positioning, with an average accuracy of a few square feet compared to several tens of square feet for GPSIndoor location promising use cases.

Although the main purpose of indoor location is to assist users navigating within buildings such as airports, malls or exhibit centres, it also opens the gate for an innovation frenzy, creating new location-based applications, while improving existing ones, such as customer analytics, store optimization, proximity advertising, couponing, and CRM.

And below are just some of the advanced applications that our customers are implementing.• Indoor navigation is one of the primary application for indoor location, bringing users to a specific point of interest that they were looking for. It helps travelers to find their gate to catch their flights or train, convention attendees to find their conference room or a particular booth…and more• Proximity advertising and location-based coupons are transforming mobile devices into a tool that drives buying behavior. Brands can now directly communicate with consumers, depending on their interest and location. A solution that is getting special attention from retail property owners who measure revenue by sales per square foot. These property owners are then able to sell in-app advertisements to retail store owners in their buildings, complimenting traditional billboards and catalog ads • Location sharing, in conjunction with social networks, meets the demands of growing enthusiasm for social platforms. Users are able to identify contacts, physically close to them, connect with friends, virtually or in-person. But more importantly, location-based social networks enable brands to benefit from viral marketing, increasing their visibility, not only to one but to multiple targets at the point of purchase• Consumer behavioral analytics are the intrinsic value of a location-based application. These statistics help to better understand buyers’ behaviors and the total customer experience. Similar to Internet analytics, location services are able to deliver data for the development of a tailored in-store customer experienceIndoor location brings e-commerce to the real worldIn a digital world, where "show rooming" becomes the norm - with shoppers coming into a store to look for a product, then checks the price online and eventually buys it from a website - retailers are struggling to find ways to compete with e-commerce sites. Which, for years, were able to precisely target customers using advanced behavior marketing analysis and targeted messaging, with keywords and clics technologies.

However, indoor location has disrupted the status-quo, giving back to brick-and-mortars retailers the upper hand over digital commerce. With indoor location technologies it is now possible to know when a customer is inside a building, just like an e-commerce website knows when an Internet user is on its homepage. Store owners are now able to offer unique incentives to shoppers, bringing a strong value add component to their digital and CRM strategy. This enables a more efficient location-based marketing, sending consumers the right message, at the right place, at the right time, finally bringing e-commerce to the real world, in real time.

But linking the real and online worlds is literally just the tip of the iceberg, as indoor location technologies are forever impacting the way we live, shop, travel and interact with traditional and online commerce. Just like GPS started the location-based revolution, more than 20-years ago, Pole Star and the rest of the indoor location industry are about to do it all over again. Don't be left behind!

[FWS] 27% CAGR expected to 2017? Operating margins expected to rise from 4% to 12% wi...

FWS — 9/14/2013 2:39:56 AM

27% CAGR expected to 2017?

Operating margins expected to rise from 4% to 12% with an accompanying fall in revenue from 11b to 6b.

With the restructuring and operating leverage efficiencies, I would not be surprised to see earnings grow a little faster then the growth rate in revenue. A pessimistic view could be a conservative 15%.

The price could easily rise 15% a year alone based on the business and earnings growth without any pe expansion.

I'm wildly guessing we are around a 15 -20 pe multiple based on price now? (Help with this one appreciated please)
And we havent talked about any HERE licensing for indoor mapping applications.

Or touched on the monetization of patents.

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blogs.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

We can stand on every soapbox there is to share how wonderful we think we are, but we think it’s a lot more rewarding to share the positive assessments we receive from research firms such as Gartner.Earlier this year, Gartner published its first vendor rating on NSN, granting us a “Positive” rating, the second highest of five levels, and a clear step up from a “Promising” rating in the 2012 Nokia Vendor Rating.And now, for the second consecutive year, Gartner has positioned NSN in the “Leaders” quadrant of its wildly popular Gartner Magic Quadrant for LTE Network Infrastructure 2013 based on an evaluation of the company’s product development and innovation, financial performance, and customer references. We believe it shows that we are among the top three global network suppliers best positioned to support a mobile operator’s future in LTE and TD-LTE.All we can say is, wow!In less than two years, with a strategy focused on excelling in mobile broadband, NSN continues to turn a corner and emerge in the leading pack of LTE and TD-LTE globally. To date, we have 89 commercial references for the delivery of LTE, and we’ve got a team fired up in the race to continue raising that number at a fast pace. And in TD-LTE, a July 2013 GSA report suggests there are 18 commercial TD-LTE launches, eight of which NSN supplies.The excitement about what we are now achieving is palpable.

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gartner.com

The worldwide market for end-to-end LTE network infrastructure includes 10 vendors. We forecast that it will grow from $10.8 billion in 2013 to $33.6 billion in 2017, to account for over 72% of spending on mobile network infrastructure (see "Forecast: Carrier Network Infrastructure, Worldwide, 2010-2017, 2Q13 Update"). We also forecast that LTE network infrastructure will show a compound annual growth rat

e (CAGR) of 41.8% over that period, making it the fastest-growing segment, not just in the mobile network infrastructure market but also in the overall carrier network infrastructure market.

End