Nokia bests Motorola in Q1

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 4/19/2007

While Nokia had its share of declines, the mobile phone giant bested its competitor Motorola on several fronts in its Q1 financial report starting 2007 off with sales growth year-over-year.

Nokia today reported Q1 net sales of $13.4 billion (9.9 billion Euros), up 4 percent on Q1 2006 net sales of $12.86 billion (9.5 billion Euros), but down 15.3 percent from the $15.85 billion (11.7 billion Euros) the company reported in net sales for Q4 2006.

The Finland-based company's Q1 revenue growth contrasts that of Motorola. With Q1 financial mobile device business performance its CEO called "unacceptable," Motorola reported this week sales of $9.43 billion, down 5.7 percent year-over-year from its Q1 2006 sales of $10.01 billion and down 20.3 percent from its Q4 sales of $11.8 billion. 
 
Nokia's Q1 operating profit decreased 7 percent year-over-year and 1.5 percent sequentially to $1.72 billion (1.27 billion Euros). That compares to a major decrease by Motorola, which posted a Q1 operating loss of $366 million, down from its Q1 2006 operating earnings of $894 million and down from Q4's operating earnings of $753 million.

Nokia's Q1 operating margin was 12.9 percent, down from Q1 2006's 14.4 percent and from Q4's 13 percent.