Why Did Ballmer Throw Nokia Now Under the Bus? Lets Dig Windows Phone & Lumia Insights from Kantar Stats

Kantar Worldpanel releases infrequent updates of its data. We have just seen June 2012 market share data for 7 countries this time, by Kantar, reported at MyNokia blog. The June numbers are compared to a year ago, June 2011. The nice thing about Kantar, is that it is one of very rare houses that reports national market shares of new sales - and splits the Microsoft data apart for Windows Mobile and Windows Phone. So we get some very useful data. Lets explore what facts we find, to try to understand why so suddenly last few weeks, Steve Ballmer CEO of Microsoft has clearly thrown his old buddy Stephen Elop and Nokia's 'strategic partner' Lumia Windows Phone smartphones under the bus? There is an intriguing story in the numbers.

WHEN THEY WERE BEST PALS

The 'logic' in the Nokisoft Microkia partnership was that when you add Nokia handset power with Microsoft software power, you should get the best of both, and in a perfect world, you get "synergy" or 1 + 1 = more than 2. Even as this was not expected by many, there was clearly an assumption that these two should be able to defend their existing shares, when joining. So if we take Microsoft share, and add Nokia share, we should get a 'third ecosystem' haha. So the hope was that at least 1 + 1 = 2.

The industry analysts were not that generous. They took the separate market shares last year February when this 'strategic partnership' was announced by Elop and Ballmer, which had a combined market share of 34% and the major handset industry analysts all felt that for this troublesome alliance, 1 + 1 = less than 2. The best, most optimistic views had this partnership with over 20% market share when combined, the highest I saw by any reputable handset analyst company was 28%. And those numbers have been downgraded again and again and again in the past 16 months. My original 'gut feeling' for this alliance was that they would achieve something 10% by end of 2012. This was said 4 days after the alliance was announced (and I projected on that day that Nokia's end-of-2011 market share would fall to 12% - which it did, and no other analyst dared project such a total collapse of Nokia's share at that time). I said this was my gut feeling and not yet my formal forecast for this partnership after the new Nokia Windows based smartphones would be released.

In July of last year, I made my thorough calculation and forecast for the full year 2012 after the Q2 data was released, and downgraded my market share projections for Nokia and Microsoft. Now based on the catastrophic crash following the Elop Effect, I still believed that Nokia's first Lumia smartphones would be highly desired, and that Nokia would be able to get 1-to-1 conversion during 2012, as it migrated the Nokia smartphone base from Symbian to Windows Phone. I very clearly said, I was confident Nokia can achieve 1-to-1 conversion, but as the industry was growing fast, this would still result in a fall in their combined market share. So exactly a year ago, I had downgraded my Nokisoft Microkia market share projection from the early gut feeling of 10% at the end of 2012, down to 8% combined. That is what I thought a smart, competitive, well managed transition, with a well-designed Lumia portfolio would achieve for Nokia and Microsoft. Note, this means that 1 + 1 = less than 0.5. The separate 34% market share of the two companies would be down to 8% when the Nokia conversion from Symbian to Windows would be essentially complete. Nokia's market share would have taken a huge hit from 29% to 6% in 24 months.

I was accused with that forecast of being too much the pessimist. We saw again silly forecasts by some (paid?) 'experts' who promised a third ecosystem for Microsoft and Nokia+Microsoft combined market shares in anything from 15% to 24% as their target now for 2012. Haha, would that it could be... By the time we got to January and the Nokia horror with Lumia became more obvious, we started to see major analyst houses give far more alarmist views, like Morgan Stanley's projection which translates to 8% for Nokia by end of year 2012. As it transpired, the most 'pessimistic' Nokia forecaster turned out again the most realistic. We are already down to 8% now, in Q1, before Nokia reports next week bad results, and Nokia already warned Q3 will be worse than Q2.

My critical assumption for my forecast for Nokia and Microsoft for this year 2012, when I made it before anyone had seen Lumia smartphones last summer, was that of course Nokia will be able to convert, 1-to-1 the existing Symbian users to the newer 'highly desirable' (haha) Windows Phone OS. I could not imagine Elop to be so incompetent to release the Lumia line with 13 design and marketing defects that it is guaranteed to fail in all markets including the USA. Hey, mom, look at the Lumia with its 101 faults just in its user experience (now with even more Eloppia: 121 faults, get your Lumia here!)

So that is how this 'start of a beautiful friendship' went sour. When Ballmer shook the hand of Elop, to get Nokia onboard the Windows Phone ecosystem - and Ballmer went to his pocket and promised to help Nokia launch Lumia with 1 Billion dollars per year in marketing support ($250 million per quarter) - that was definitely on assumptions that after the Nokia Symbian customer based was fully converted to Symbian, Microsoft would stand on something near 20% market share. As Microsoft at the time was already falling under 4%, this was a big gain for Ballmer. He calculated that even if Elop messed this up, and Nokia only limped in with half, then they'd have a combined market share in the 12% or 15% range. That is what was on Ballmer's mind when he committed the Billions to this venture. And yes, if you were able to take 12% to 15% of smartphones today, you'd have something like the 'third ecosystem'. In Q1 for example, Android had 56% of the world smartphone market, Apple had 24%. Blackberry had fallen to 8%. So yeah, a very fair argument, if you could get to 12% or more, that you are the 'third ecosystem'. If. If you could get to that level. 

NOW THE FACTS

Now lets take Kantar Worldpanel data. This happens to be quite opportune timing. The June 2011 data is after the Elop Effect, so much of the shock crash of Nokia Symbian has already been factored in, and it is before any Lumia launched (which would be November) but just about the time when the first Lumia leaks started - by Elop himself. So the buzz about Lumia is just about starting in June. Lets see what story Kantar tells us of this attempt. What is 1 + 1 = ?

Kantar does not release all of its data, it takes selected countries when it does. This time we have the EU 5 ie UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, plus USA and Australia. This is by coincidence the 'best market' region for Windows Phone potential (Windows was never successful in Japan or South Korea, for example and in the Emerging World, Windows Phone based smartphones are not competitive at the low end). I took the population-weighted average to count the market shares and when we look at this 'strategic partnership' the world picture is quite.. fascinating as Spock would say on the original Star Trek

MARKET SHARES FOR NOKIA-MICROSOFT PARTNERSHIP (in 'West' Advanced market countries)

OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2011 . . . . June 2012
Symbian . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5% . . . . . . . 3.2%
Windows Mobile  . . . . . . 1.0% . . . . . . . 0.6%
Windows Phone  . . . . . . 1.6% . . . . . . . 2.4%
Total partnerhship  . . . . 16.1% . . . . . . . 6.3%

Total Windows  . . . . . . . 2.6% . . . . . . . 3.0%

Market Share calculation by TomiAhonen Consulting July 12, 2012, from Kantar data
This data may be freely shared

So? Before Lumia launched, Microsoft total market share, in its VERY BEST markets, USA, Western Europe and Australia, was 2.6%. Now Nokia has run the world's most expensive marketing launch of the Lumia series - Elop told us he budgeted 3 times the amount of money of the previous top launch - and Microsoft threw in hundreds of millions more including handing free Xbox 360 gaming systems from the UK to Sweden. And where are we? Microsoft's market share in the best possible markets, gained 0.4% market share over the past 12 months. So Nokia's Lumia which was supposed to bring Microsoft 10% to as high as 24% gain in market share, when run by the 'brilliant' ex-Microsoft dude Stephen Elop, and as close as is humanly possible, with the Lumia launch micro-managed by Ballmer himself from Redmond, he gains 0.4%. Not one half of one percent!

Meanwhile, what was the damage to Nokia? This is after the catastrophic collapse due to Elop Effect from 29%. Now last June when in these markets Nokia's market share had fallen to 13.5% - that Symbian share was sacrificed like a lamb, and Nokia's Symbian share 12 months later is 3.2%. Yes. Elop took 10.3% of the best loyal Nokia customers, to achieve a 0.4% gain in Microsoft's customer base. Hmmm.. I would say this is a poor exchange. The overall math looks like this:

13.5% + 2.6% = not 16.1% but only 6.3%

So what was Nokia shift then? Well, if we say 80% of the Windows Phone sales is Nokia Lumia (we know Windows Mobile is not), and this would be roughly in line with the overall Windows stats (Samsung, HTC and others have been selling Windows Phone based smartphones too) we have this Nokia exchange rate:

13.5% Nokia Symbian share has become combined 5.1% Nokia Lumia and Symbian share now. At 1.9% Nokia Lumia market share in these 7 countries of the West, Nokia went from 13.5% down to 3.2% in Symbian. Nokia exchanged 10.2% market share in Symbian to gain 1.9% in Windows. So yes, Nokia lost 4 customers for every 1 it managed to force to take the Lumia. And this is before they learn that their brand new Lumia is now obsolete, effectively Osborned by Ballmer.

Yes. For every 10.2 customers Nokia forced to change away from Symbian, 1.9 took Lumia/Windows Phone and 8.3 customers went elsewhere - mostly to Android or iPhone. Good move, Mr-call-me-The-General. 

So first, clearly, the Kantar numbers are brutal, in that Nokia's Lumia strategy is failing. Secondly, we have now insights into what drove Ballmer to throw Nokia under the bus. Ballmer can read numbers. He knows Windows Phone is excluded from Japan and South Korea. He knows China's two big carriers/operators refuse to take any Lumia. He knows the cheapest Nokia Lumia smartphones are priced too high to achieve meaningful sales in India or Brazil or Africa. The only chance his boy Stephen Elop had to make Lumia the success it was supposed to be, was in Western Europe, where Nokia was strong, and in North America, where Microsoft was strong. Now we have the evidence.

Last year, in June, when final plans were being made on where and how to launch the early Lumia smartphones, and how much money to throw into that project, Nokia brought to the table 13.5% market share of Symbian to play with - as high as 40% in Spain and 39% in Italy. Now one year later, Nokia's Symbian share has been exploited, it is now down to 6.3% across the 7 countries and only Italy has any meaningful share left that might be still convertible (16%). In Britain Symbian is down to 2%, in Spain 3%, and Australia and France down to 4%. There is nothing more to be gained from this 'partnership' from Microsoft's side. Nokia has been bled dry, there is nothing more to give.

If Ballmer was the man to stand by his word and his 'strategic partner' he would stay and fight. He would give Elop more time. He would push more money to the project - and most of all - of course if Ballmer believed that Nokia can climb out of this with Microsoft, he'd let the Lumia series be upgraded to Windows Phone 8. But no. Ballmer threw Nokia under the bus. And honestly, look at those Kantar numbers. Wouldn't you do the same? Elop has so totally mismanaged even the Lumia launch - remember these numbers were generated before the Osborning of Lumia, now that for example Germany's biggest carrier/operator T-Mobile announced they won't launch Lumia 900 after all.

A year ago, in September when asked about Windows Phone (as it had been on the market for a year), Steve Ballmer said that by his view, Windows Phone sales had been "below expectation." That was at the level of 2% in these best markets for Microsoft. That disappointment had Ballmer removing the top VP in charge of Windows Phone. If Ballmer felt that was disappointing then, and he's now thrown 750 million dollars into Elop's endless marketing void, and Windows has managed to pick up.. 0.4% of total market share - do you think its possible Ballmer feels Elop is incompetent and deserves to be fired. I mean, Elop used almost exact words calling Lumia sales "below expectations" now in May of 2012. And would you know it, suddenly Ballmer doesn't want to hang out with his BFF. We hear that Microsoft was given the chance to buy Nokia in January and Microsoft said no, not worth it. Now we see Lumia can't be upgraded to Windows Phone 8. Microsoft suddenly comes out of the blue and announces its tablet (while rumors had it that Nokia would make a tablet for Ballmer) and now when Ballmer is asked will Microsoft make smartphones in the future - Ballmer won't bother to say no.

Ballmer gave Elop the chance to play with Nokia and make it a legitimate handset unit/partner for Microsoft. And then Ballmer looked at the numbers. These Kantar numbers are pretty brutal, the Pretend-Patton has failed. Elop launched such a disasterous line of Lumia phones that out of every 5 existing loyal Nokia smartphone users, when offered the Lumia, four will walk away from the deal and take an Android instead. And this.. even as Lumia 900 smartphones were even offered with 100 dollar rebates etc. (Now you'll find Lumias in the discount bins selling for a penny)

So now we have some of the facts behind the bizarre step that Ballmer took in abandoning its 'strategic partner'. Last year early in the Spring, Nokia did not need Microsoft, it was Microsoft who needed Nokia. The brand new Windows Phone was failing in the market, even according to Ballmer's words, was below expectation. Then came the biggest new smartphone launch ever. And after that, Windows Phone market share has barely moved, gaining less than one half of one percent. This, after Microsoft threw 750 million dollars into this disaster. Now Ballmer has had enough. Elop is incompetent, he is also thrown under the bus. If it were to transpire that Ballmer makes a bid for Nokia as it inevitably will be sold shortly, then watch, within a year of that acquisition, the VP in charge of Microsoft's smartphone unit will no longer be Elop. Ballmer can see Elop is incompetent. He would be shifted to something less harmful.. But seriously, if Nokia now brings 3.2% market share to the table and that would be traded at 4 lost to every 1 gained Windows customer, why would Ballmer even want Nokia? His gain - in the best markets for this partnership mind you, not globally where it would be worse - would be a paltry 0.6%. And Nokia would cost well in excess of 10 Billion dollars to buy in a competitive bidding war, I think. Not worth it. Totally not worth it for Microsoft. Just let the mobile dream die, Ballmer, and focus on the desktop.

Comments

[aikoN]

Please, correct me if I’m wrong...
If
- Lumia development outsourced to Pegatron and manufacturing outsourced to Foxxcon.
- Asha manufacturing is made by Fly Mobile in India
- the rest of the Symbian support is outsourced to Accenture
- navteq is “donated” to Microsoft
then where is the Nokia?
Factories are closed, R&D centers are fired,
What else do we have? Management and marketing?

[NoNameRequired]

Here in Norway, our biggest telcom, Telenor, just released their June top ten sellers. To everyone's surprise, the N9 came in at ninth place and sold better than the Lumia 900 (not even in the top ten), and Lumia 800 sold only slightly better, at eight place. Telenor commented that they are going to stop selling the N9, though. The S III was the clear winner.

[Jack1059]

I keep coming back to the ongoing disaster at Nokia. Even though Ive tried to just write off caring about the company after the patently stupid exclusive 'partnership' with MS ended what was a great company. Its like watching a slowly unfolding train wreck. You dont want to watch, but you just cant help yourself. Add to that picture, the train driver up front not even bothering to put on the brakes and its doubly sickly fascinating. Its just one stupid / failed decision after another. And all in charge keeps whistling and merrily carrying on. I mean really. If you wrote a book two years ago with this exact scenario occurring at a company. You would have been laughed at for trying to pass off such absurdity.

[zlutor]

@Spawn: yes, every Windows OS is compatible with all the OLD ones - but! not all old computer is capable of running the new one. CPU, RAM requirement, certain GPU requirements for W7, etc.

And WP8 will be compatible with WP7.x - at least M$ said it will be capable of running WP7.x applications.

So, there is nothing new here. The timing of the announcement - that is the real issue...

Chipsets - yes, Qualcomm will have/has WP8 compatible chipset - are they supported by WP7.x? No? How to built them into current Lumias? Nokia had not many option when they designed the current Lumias...

NFC - yes, support can be disabled - question how important role M$ planned to it? But yes, most probably the least problematic issues...

Single core CPU - should not be big deal either. In worst case everything will be hell slow. Hopefully dual-core CPU is not required due to this reason. :-)

Screen resolution - a hard issue again. They want to limit the number of supported screen resolution. Maybe it is the real show stopper...

Anyway, I think there must be _real technical_ reason behind this restriction. It would be best interest of M$ to provide smooth update...

"It was Ballmer. He osborned Nokia" - c'mon! They are adults, why on earth will they do it without good reason? Or am I too naive? :-)

Nokia has got the info at the same day when it was published - there would be hard consequences if it were true... They must have known it long time ago...

[Corey Hard]

Microsoft uses Nokia as a lab just like Japanese used Chinese in the notorious Camp 731. They buy companies here and there without thinking long range consequences because all they care is trying if something works. Like a mad scientist sewing body parts together.

But, how in the hell any sane person can let it happen. It is beyond any comprehension. Of course Microsoft may have offered lets say 50 000 000 - 100 000 000 dollars for every board member, for not standing in way, when Nokia is cannibalized. They cannot refuse, right?

[Robert Atkins]

Anecdotal story only - I do not have European or tech connections as do so many posters here.

In my small corner of world in Central Texas, I knew only one person who carried a Nokia, and that was old flip phone model. Did she replace that w. new Lumia? No, went to Android model. I keep looking for someone using Nokia Lumia to see how they like it. Have not seen one yet in the wild. Nor any other Win7 phone.

Maybe RIM should have hired Elop away from Nokia to manage their comeback. Haha.

[vladkr]

@Baron95:

You seem to like to compare Windows Phone with the worst-performing protagonists... isn't it a bit too easy?

That's like comparing Kim Jong Il with Kim Il Sun and saying that under Kim Jong Il North Korean everyday life (very) slightly improved, so Kim Jong Il is a democrat.

So Windows Phone's results are good because it performs better than Bada, Meego and Symbian?

Please, compare what can be compared; what is WP budget VS Bada (it's stupid to compare with Meego or Symbian, which are discontinued) ?

[vladkr]

Another good news:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/wsj_nokia_closes_sales_offices_in_china/6216656

[geektech]

I would like to see MeeGo market share, so comming from 0 beeing a dead platform, how it perform against WP or others?

[N9]

@Baron95 you are the one that mentioned meego to begin with, in case you prefer harmattan/maemo6 what ever... its mathematically impossible that the growth rate of (insert your favourite name for the N9 OS) did not beet the WP growth rate under nokia lumia period... (since you like to look at pathetically small numbers to draw conclusions on the future of platforms)

[zlutor]

@Baron85: yes, M$ set the minimum hw requirements for WP8, I've got it. Most probably there is reason behind it, and they did not do it l'art pour l'art. I hope the reason is pure technical.

From my side there is no problem with it - it usually happens when something new is coming. Especially if the new thing offers significant improvements/leapfrog compared to its predecessor.

My real question is why did they announced it so early? Why not just introduce WP8 and say "ok, wp7.x devices will not get it but here it is the nice WP7.8 for you for free"?

"There has not been a single smartphone launched running Meego" - well, we can start arguing whether OS of N9 is MeeGo or not but let's don't do that. For majority of this audience is aware of the differences but for the sake of simplicity let's say it was MeeGo. Or, do you want to say that tne N9 is not smartphone? :-)

On the other hand Jolla Mobile promised us not one but two smartphones runing on MoeGo before end of thus year...

@Tomi: in some other blog somebody has come up with the idea that the big guy behind Jolla could be China Mobile. Any opinion on that? CEO of Jolla mentioned they are 'standing on the shoulders of a giant'. he also mentioned in some interview he regularly fly to chine in every months. So, conteos heat up! :-)

http://www.intomobile.com/2012/07/11/interview-jussi-hurmola-ceo-jollamobile-audio-and-text-available/

[RussellBuckley]

Hi Tomi

Realistically, if Ballmer does follow this tongue-in-cheek "advice" "Just let the mobile dream die, Ballmer, and focus on the desktop." this means the end of Microsoft. Not next week, not next year, but it will be within 5 years and maybe within 3.

Of course, that can't happen. A company as big as Microsoft can't just implode that quickly. But then, look at Nokia, or RIM or Moto. Once the Mighty begin to fall, they fall very quickly.

Russell

[Corey Hard]

Heed my words that Nokia is kept as a lab rat for Microsoft for cruel experiments like video rental through smartglass and game image streaming from xbox to phone.

Those ideas are born dead but, lets try for the sake of trying!

If the lab rat dies nobody cares - and on top of that we have played with the rats money so it is all good for Us (Microsoft) !

[Kenny]

Tomi, you may have missed the importance of Microsoft granting Huawei rights to make WP8 phones. China has the biggest smartphone market in the world and is crucial to Nokia' survival. Allowing Huawei to make WP8 phones is a deathblow to Nokia's China market. Thrown under the bus again!

[So Vatar]

Did you guys see this?
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Nokia-has-only-sold-330000-Lumia-devices-in-the-US_id32257

They claim that "Nokia has only sold 330,000 Lumia devices in the US"!

Remember that Flop at some time stated that Lumia sales exceed expectations? AT&T touted that the marketing campaign for Lumias would exceed the ones for the iPhone?

And then Nokia sells a total of 0.33 Mio Lumias in the U.S, including the "flag ship" L900 on AT&T and the cheapo L710 on t-mobile?

Okay, this number is so low it is almost unbelievable. Don't forget, these sales are before osborning WP7.

What are they thinking in Espoo?

[James G]

@SO Vatar They claim that "Nokia has only sold 330,000 Lumia devices in the US"!

And did you see all those WP7 fanboys comments in denial "I don't believe these BS numbers." I could easily see that the MS marketing money was at work just be reading a few of the Lumia sickly sweet glowing reviews on ATT mobile. Selling #1 and then when the phones had a defect. Suddenly they sold out, or did they simply stop sales until they figured it out. It was easy to see that something odd was going on. Now we start to see some numbers. Nokia's results next week are going to be very interesting to see. Will they post some numbers or just try to hide the decline?

[Chris D]

@So Vatar, @James G
Even the WP fan site has picked up the news: http://wmpoweruser.com/nielsen-nokia-only-sold-less-than-300000-nokia-lumia-900-in-usa/
Nielsen responded saying that they do not support multiplying their share with comscore's numbers. Indeed, from my point of view, that can lead to a significant margin of error - especially considering how low the market share is to begin with (BIG difference between 0.3% and 0.4% for example). But even allowing for a big margin of error up to 50%, the numbers are still dismal.

[Spawn]

@zlutor

> not all old computer is capable of running the new one. CPU, RAM requirement, certain GPU requirements for W7, etc.

Old computers with hardware being not strong enough to run the newest Windows, yes.
Lumia 900 hardware is not old. Its an expensive powerhorse. Or do you argue Windows 8 RT will not run on todays hardware? Then how can it run on Surface which contains todays hardware?

> And WP8 will be compatible with WP7.x

But not the other way around. Great for WP8 users but WP7 users will not be able to run any WP8 apps.
That is unlike Android where near all of the apps run fine on Android 2. That is unlike Windows Desktop where most apps run fine on tge previous, older version.
WP7 is stuck with the apps that are in the store now. All the new apps, all the desktop+tablet+phone ecosystem will not come for WP7. No new IE, no Office, nothing. Lumia is now prisoned in an own ecosystem while Microsoft moves on to a new one. They take the WP7 apps (and with that the developers) with them to WP8 leaving back a Lumia ghost-town.

> So, there is nothing new here.

Not for 99.7%. But those 300.000 Lumia owners (US alone) will find it not amusing. Those where the early adaptors, the Nokia hardcore fans, tge Winxows harxcore fans and they just got screwed.

> Qualcomm ... How to built them into current Lumias?

They are already in the Lumia's. Lumia uses Qualcomm chipsets.

> NFC - yes, support can be disabled - question how important role M$ planned to it?

Windows 8 already supports devices whi have no NFC. NFC is official optional.

> there must be _real technical_ reason behind this restriction

No, there are not. Its just that Microsoft not likes to waste any resources to support the 300000 Lumia sold. The go for Apple and not care about 0.3%.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248279/windows_8_tablet_requirements_revealed.html

"Microsoft has said that all Windows 7 machines will be able to run Windows 8"

> It would be best interest of M$ to provide smooth update...

They provide a smooth update to developers. Lumia sold to bad to be of any strategy interest for Microsoft. They focus all there resources on WP8 and Surface now.

> It was Ballmer. He osborned Nokia" - c'mon! They are adults, why on earth will they do it without good reason?

Who says there where no reasons? Ballmer aborted WP7, the Nokia-case and moves all attention to Windows 8.
See that as signal that WP8 will not be like WP7, as signal to customers and partners that WP8 will not be a continuation of th WP7 disaster but a new start. See that as signal that the reason why WP7 failed was Nokia, not Microsoft and they will not repeat that mistake. They will now do themself (Surface) and Nokia is no special partner any longer.
Ballmer sees that Nokia is fighting against the dead and he build up a wall to not bind the success of WP8 on Nokias future. He made clear: Nokia is just a partner and if they die its not changing anything for us. WP8 will be a success even without Nokia.
You see that also in his recent interviews. He now ALWAYS namds Nokia AND HTC as partners. He is very carefull ti not damage WP8 cause of Nokias downfall.

[Kenny]

Not only did Nokia sold a dismal 330,000 Lumia phones in U.S. but even more humiliating is that Samsung and HTC WP7 phones outsold Lumia. See Nielsen's Smartphone Manufacturer's share by OS at http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/12/nielsen-has-android-near-52-percent-of-us-smartphone-share-in-q2/

So all the multi-million glitzy promotions and the more than 400 fake 5 stars and 4 stars reviews on Amazon didn't help? What a shame!

[Spawn]

@Baron95

> follow Microsoft's minimum HW specifications.

What Lumia does. The requirements are not so different from those they had for WP7. In fact the requirements for WP8 are more relaxed then those the had for WP7.

> Win 7.8 will make the UI look very similar to Win 8

The UI is not what matters but the ecosystem ia. Read up on Elop's manifests.
Since WP8 apps do not run on WP7, cause of the uninteresting market share of WP7 and the already limited interest for WP7 AND cause of WP8 the WP7 is an own ecosystem, unrelated to the Windows8 ecosystem, a now dead ecosystem.
WP8 is taking the very low interest over, Microsoft anf partners focus on the Windows8 ecosystem leaving Nokia and its Lumoa customers back, alone in the dark, on a dead ghost-town.

But the good news are that only a small group of customers got screwed. Guess Microsoft and Nokia should be happy they sold so less Lumia :-)

@vladkr

Sales gone too. What stays are management and legal.
Plan B are the patents.

@geektech

N9 sells better then Lumia. We have numbers for Norway at least to prove that now. So, Tomis analysis was once more correct.
But at the end it makes no difference.