Hot on the heals of the mixed bag that was Nokia's most recent quarterly financial report, Strategy Analytics has attempted to put the performance of the firm's Lumia range to date in some context.

According to numbers released by the firm, Nokia has shipped a total of 6.9 million Lumia handsets worldwide in its first three quarters.

While that leaves the range trailing behind the current pace being set by Samsung's Galaxy S III and Apple's iPhone 4S, Strategy Analytics claims Lumia has actually got off to a better start than those recorded by both Apple and Samsung's initial smartphone releases.

Knocking on the door

"We estimate Nokia shipped 6.9 million Lumia smartphones with the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system cumulatively worldwide during the first three quarters after commercial launch, from Q4 2011 to Q2 2012," said senior analyst Neil Shah.

"This compares with 3.7 million units of the rival Apple iPhone family in its first three quarters during 2007, and 1.3 million units for the Samsung Android family in its first three quarters during 2009. It is an encouraging start for Nokia and Microsoft."

Strategy Analytics' executive director Neil Mawston notes both parties are "not out of the woods yet", but notes that "pessimism surrounding Nokia and Microsoft’s emerging partnership so far may be misplaced."

"With a new Apple iPhone 5 expected on the horizon, and Samsung’s Galaxy S3 selling in huge quantities, Nokia will need to pull something impressive out of the bag for the next-generation Windows Phone 8 launch later this year to sustain its tentative early momentum," concluded Mawtson.

Indeed, Strategy Analytics' declaration comes as Samsung claims 10 million Galaxy S III handsets have been sold since its release at the end of May.

[source: BusinessWire]