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Finnish line: Nokia calls time on Symbian as firm powers back into profit

808 PureView the platform's last hurrah

Finnish line: Nokia calls time on Symbian as firm powers back into profit
Nokia has confirmed the 808 PureView was the last Symbian phone it will ever manufacture, with the Finnish firm's transition to Windows Phone now complete.

The 808 boasted a 41MP camera and was openly pitched as a test bed for Nokia's latest imaging technology – some of which has since made its way onto the Windows Phone 8 powered Lumia 920.

"During our transition to Windows Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian," detailed the firm during its latest financial report.

"The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the last Symbian device from Nokia."

Winning with Windows

Nokia sold 2.2 million Symbian smartphones during Q4 – half the number of Windows Phone devices it sold during the same period.

Indeed, the word 'Symbian' features 22 times during said report, almost all pointing to a decline in sales in tandem with Nokia's long term plans to focus on Microsoft's Windows Phone.



In better news, however, Q4 2012 saw Nokia bounce back into profit after an 18 month run of losses.

On the back of sales of €8 billion – up 11 percent on the same period the previous year – Nokia posted a quarterly net profit of €439 million.

Tough times

The firm's outlook remains tough, however, and Nokia didn't pay out any dividends for the first time in 20 years.

"We are very encouraged that our team's execution against our business strategy has started to translate into financial results," said CEO Stephen Elop of the results.

"While the first half of 2012 was difficult for Nokia Group, in Q4 2012 we strengthened our financial position, improved our underlying operating margin in Devices & Services, introduced the HERE brand to expand our mapping and location experiences, and drove record profitability in Nokia Siemens Networks.

"We remain focused on moving through our transition, which includes continuing to improve our product competitiveness, accelerate the way we operate and manage our costs effectively.

"All of these efforts are aimed at improving our financial performance and delivering more value to our shareholders."

[source: Nokia]



With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.