Nokia Posts $1.4B Loss in 4th Quarter

Mobile phone maker Nokia Corp. today posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.4 billion as sales slumped 21% even as the company's first Windows smartphones hit markets in Europe and Asia. The loss compares with a profit of $981 million in the same period a year earlier. Nokia said net revenue—including both its mobile phones and its network divisions—fell from $16.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 to $13.2 billion, with smartphone sales plunging 23%.

Nokia has lost its once-dominant position in the global cell phone market, with Android phones and iPhones overtaking it in the growing smartphone segment. The Finnish company is attempting a comeback with phones using Microsoft's Windows software; the CEO says the company has sold "well over" 1 million such devices since the launch of the Lumia line in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations. Including other models, Nokia sold 19 million smartphones in the quarter. By comparison, Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the same period. (More Nokia stories.)