While Apple continues to bask in financial glory thanks in no small part to the iPhone, although the iPad hasn't exactly done it much harm, the same smartphone success does not appear to have rubbed off on the Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia. As Apple gloated about having the most successful quarter in the history of Apple in terms of revenue, up by 61 percent from last year to $15.7 billion, so Nokia could only weep as profits fell by 40 percent despite a slight growth in revenue between April and June from $12.78 billion (€9.91 billion) to $12.89 billion (€10 billion).
Even though this represents a 3 percent, year on year, increase in net sales for Nokia there can be no denying it has struggled to find a smartphone that can compete in the marketplace with the success of the iPhone or even the Android handsets from the likes of HTC for that matter. The simple truth is that Nokia would appear to be falling behind in terms of smartphone innovation as well as creative design, areas where Apple and HTC both excel. Whether the release of the much vaunted N8 handset, the first to feature the new Symbian 3 Operating System, can make any difference remains to be seen. Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, is confident the N8 will "kick-start Nokia's fight back" but then again he would say that.
[youtube]xrXHXin9Iio[/youtube]As well as featuring the new Symbian OS, the Nokia N8 comes with a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash, HD-quality video recording and Dolby surround sound all wrapped up in an aluminium body.
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that the last quarter has "exceeded our expectations" and well he might. With the iPad selling 3.3 million units and iPhone sales up 61 percent from last year at 8.4 million, and a 78 percent rise in net income, Apple has performed better than most Wall Street analysts were predicting. Even the much publicised iPhone 4 death grip problem has not dampened Apple spirits nor harmed sales, with the company claiming it is selling every single unit it produces. I'm not sure that even if Nokia does prioritize antenna performance over physical design as it insists , it will be able to compete with that.
