Nokia to cut 1,800 jobs

Nokia is to lay off 1,800 people even as it reports increasing earnings and good profits.

Net sales, for the last quarter, are up to €10.3bn, with profit jumping to €403m compared to a loss of €426m in the same period last year. But that's not good enough, so the company is shaking down its smartphone business by axing 1,800 jobs and pulling developer support for Symbian.

Symbian handsets might still be around, but development for them will all be in Qt. New boss Stephen Elop reckons that's going to make creating new phones simpler, which means it can be done with a lot fewer people.

Nokia is still shifting a lot of smartphones - more than 26 million of them in the last three months alone. However, its share of the world's phone market is decreasing - down to 30 per cent by its own estimate, down four per cent on this time last year.

Breaking down the numbers, device and services sales were €7.2bn, up four per cent on the year, while Nokia Siemens Networks sales were €2.9bn, up seven per cent on the year.

Fourth quarter devices and services sales are expected to come in at €8.2bn to 8.7bn in the fourth quarter, with margins of 10 to 12 per cent. Nokia Siemens Networks revenues are expected to be 4.3bn to 3.8bn, with operating margins of two to five per cent. ®