Samsung overtakes Apple in smartphones, trails in profits

Even with 40% fewer unit sales, the iPhone is 3 times more profitable than the Galaxy S

Source: Strategy Analytics

Apple's (AAPL) reign as the world's No. 1 maker of smartphones, it turns out, was like the life of a grasshopper: It overtook Nokia (NOK) in June and was overtaken by Samsung in September.

Samsung reported Friday that it sold 27.8 million Galaxy smartphones last quarter, easily outpacing the iPhone's 17.07 million. Even if Apple sells 25 to 30 million iPhones in the holiday quarter, as various analysts predict, Samsung is likely to retain its lead.

But unlike the grasshopper, Apple is in it for the long run. It's selling iPhones as fast as it can make them and socking away more profit than all of its competitors combined (see here).

Samsung, for example, reported profits of $2.2 billion from the sales of Galaxy smartphones last quarter, 60% of the electronic giant's total.

iPhone sales last quarter, while less than expected, generated nearly $11 billion in sales (39% 0f Apple's total). Assuming, conservatively, 60% profit margins on each iPhone sold, that's an estimated profit of $6.5 billion, leaving No. 1 Samsung in the dust.

Nokia Lumia 800 & 710, Windows Phones Announced

Just seven months after announcing its intention to move to Windows Phone, Nokia unveiled its first WP based devices: the Lumia 800 and 710.

Both feature the same Qualcomm applications processor: a single-core Snapdragon S2 MSM8255 running at 1.4GHz with 512MB of memory on-package. The 800 has a more expensive chassis and Carl Zeiss optics, while the 710 is cost reduced in those aspects. 

The 800 features a 3.7-inch AMOLED (RGBG PenTile) display, 16GB of integrated NAND (no microSD slot) and a 5.365Wh battery. The 800's camera has an 8MP sensor with a Carl Zeiss f/2.2 lens. The camera sensor and lens stack are borrowed from the N9, one of the ways Nokia was able to bring the 800 to market in such a short time after the Microsoft announcement.

I played with the 800 a bit at Nokia World and the feel is easily leaps and bounds beyond any WP devices available today. The 800 will be available in three colors (black, magenta and cyan) while the 710 comes in black and white. 

The 710 keeps the screen size the same (3.7-inches) but moves to a standard TFT-LCD. The 710 has the same amount of DRAM as the 800 but it cuts NAND in half to 8GB. Unlike the 800 however the 710 features a microSD card slot that can accommodate up to a 16GB card (24GB total). Battery capacity drops to 4.81Wh. Both models use micro-SIMs.

Nokia Lumia Windows Phone Lineup
	Lumia 800	Lumia 710
SoC	Qualcomm S2 MSM8255 1.4GHz	Qualcomm S2 MSM8255 1.4GHz
Display	3.7-inch AMOLED PenTile RGBG	3.7-inch TFT-LCD
Camera	8MP LED flash rear facing camera Carl Zeiss lens	5MP LED flash rear facing camera
Memory	512MB, 16GB NAND	512MB, 8GB NAND
Dimensions	116.5 x 61.2 x 12.11 mm, 142g	119.0 x 62.4 x 12.5 mm, 126g
Battery	5.365Wh	4.81Wh
Network Support	WCDMA, EDGE Class B, GPRS Class B HSUPA 5.76Mbps HSDPA 14.4Mbps WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900	WCDMA, EDGE Class B, GPRS Class B HSUPA 5.76Mbps HSDPA 14.4Mbps WCDMA 900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Connectivity	802.11n b/g/n (2.4 GHz), BT 2.1+EDR, USB 2.0	802.11n b/g/n (2.4 GHz), BT 2.1+EDR, USB 2.0

Nokia announced its unique software bundle available on all Lumia Windows Phones including Nokia Maps and Nokia Music. The former is Nokia's own voice guided, turn by turn navigation app. Nokia Maps allows you to download and preinstall maps ahead of time to avoid streaming map data if you're roaming in another country. Map data can be downloaded on the fly however if necessary.

Nokia Music is a streaming music service that doesn't require a subscription or even so much as a login. You'll be able to stream live mixes as well as save them for offline listening, although Nokia didn't share much about what specific labels/artists would be available via the service. The service will be available in 38 countries - plans for North America will have to wait until NA phones are announced.

Both Nokia apps will come preloaded on all Nokia Windows Phone devices. 

The Lumia 800 will be available in six countries in November (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands). Before the end of the year Nokia will add Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan to the list. The Lumia 800 will be available for around 420 Euros.

The 710, priced at 270 Euros, will be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan by the end of the year. 

Nokia will bring a US-specific lineup to market in early 2012 on multiple carriers. The Lumia family will hit mainland China in the first half of 2012. Nokia also mentioned it has plans to release LTE/CDMA Lumia products but it didn't commit to any timeframe. Based on Qualcomm's roadmaps I'd expect to see LTE devices toward the middle/second half of next year.

Nokia Will Unveil Windows 7 Phones Next Week

Nokia will be revealing its first Windows 7 phones next week at its Nokia World 2011 event, Microsoft's Andy Lees revealed in an interview at AllThingsD's AsiaD conference. These phones will be the first products to come from the Microsoft-Nokia partnership that was announced earlier this year.

According to the report, Nokia will show off several new phones, all running the new "Mango" version of Windows Phone 7. The Nokia 800, pictured above, is expected to be one of them - several leaks have already given the tech press a pretty good look at this phone, which sports a slim design and multiple colors.

Microsoft is betting that these new phones will help it compete better againt iOS and Android handsets, while Nokia is hoping that they'll help reverse declining in sales: the company is so optimistic that it announced it would no longer be selling Symbian or feature phones in the United States by the time its Windows phones came to market.

Can Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 compete with the iPhone 4S?

The latest version of the Apple iPhone made an appearance today. The 4s, not the iPhone 5 as was anticipated. The question is does this help Microsoft with its Windows Phone 7 marketing?

Pricing

Microsoft and Nokia entered an agreement earlier this year to produce mobile phones. The marketing strategy behind this is that Nokia has a strong distribution and marketing system in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia. Consequently, Microsoft would have a larger distribution point available to make the Windows Phone 7 a global entity. However, this largely relies on the assumption that Apple does not undercut the Microsoft plan with a cheaper mobile phone system.

A cheaper iPhone with a strong global launch pattern would have been a real marketing nightmare for both Microsoft and Nokia.  Both planned to undercut the iPhone system by selling smartphones in the $150-$300 average price range. Rightly so all new iPhones in the past have come out with average price levels above $650 – partly subsidized to the tune of $200 by leading US carriers.

The iPhone 4S
The technology is impressive, but from Microsoft’s point of view, it is the pricing that may be the sticking point.

• The iPhone 4S starts at $199 for a 16GB device, then $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB.
• The iPhone 4 moves to $99.
• And the iPhone 3GS is now free (with a two year contract)

Can Microsoft and Nokia compete?
With this type of pricing for the mobile phone can Microsoft and Nokia compete? Ever since the Windows Phone 7 made its debut, there was more publicity than actual sales. The Windows Phone 7 has about 2% of the mobile phone market. Playing catch up has been hard for Microsoft in this market and it may be hoping that the price value of the Windows Phone 7 pushes its products out the door faster than before. But with Apple making the new price plans available, it may be hard for Microsoft to make a dent.

Nokia N9 European pricing confirmed by online stores Tech News

A Romanian online retailer has listed the MeeGo-running Nokia N9 for €550 on pre-order. If you want a more trustful source, Amazon.de takes pre-orders, too, but it’s demanding €620.
This Romanian retailer is taking the N9 pre-orders for €550 (a hat tip to Robert S. for pointing it out). For a gray market price it sounds reasonably for the launch, although it’s more expensive than most of the high-end droids today.

The German Amazon also has the N9 on pre-order, but it’s even more expensive – €620.

So these prices should give us the basic idea of what to expect at Nokia N9′s launch. It will cost a small fortune for sure, but we bet it will drop price in a month or so. After all the N9 is a smartphone with limited availability and doubtful support, so pricing should reflect that.
Update: We also received a tip from a trustful source that Nokia N9 will launch in Norway at €570 (incl. taxes) near the end of this month.