Nokia to Bring Popular Symbian Features to Lumia Devices

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia had a disastrous first quarter financial performance, influenced by its transition to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system and by an increasingly competitive smartphone landscape. 

The company sold fewer Windows Phones than it originally expected, and experienced a significant drop in sales of Symbian devices as well. 

Nokia announced sales of 11.9 million smart devices in the first three months of the year, a drop of 51 percent when compared to the 24.2 million units it sold in the first quarter of the last year and a 39 percent decrease compared to the 19.6 million devices it moved in Q4 2011. 

“We are navigating through a significant company transition in an industry environment that continues to evolve and shift quickly. Over the last year we have made progress on our new strategy, but we have faced greater than expected competitive challenges,” Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO, said.

However, the company notes that sales of Nokia Lumia devices are going up, although they could not entirely offset the significantly lower Symbian volumes.

To ensure that this changes, the company aims at making its Windows Phone devices more appealing than before, while also being set to make them available in more countries around the world. 

Nokia also plans on bringing some of the most popular features of Symbian to its Windows Phone devices, a recent article on PCMag notes. 

One of these would be the Wi-Fi hotspot tethering capabilities that Nokia Lumia 610 – the most affordable device in the series – already features. Most probably, NFC (Near Field Communication) will also be implemented across Nokia’s portfolio of Windows Phones. 

But there are other features planned for Windows Phone devices as well, at least this is what Nokia’s CEO reportedly confirmed. 

“Vcard sending and receiving, which turns out to be the most often requested capability from existing Symbian users; data voice and messaging tracking capability for cost control; panorama image capabilities that stitch together multiple images to create a great photographic experience; and the introduction of a DLNA client for television connectivity," Elop said.

There will be new Lumia devices available for purchase at different price points, so as to fit the needs of as many users as possible. The company is also set to advertise its devices more aggressively than before. 

In Q1 2012, Nokia lost on all fronts. Revenues dropped due to lower volume sales and dimmed average selling price of smartphones, while overall sales of mobile devices were down 24 percent from Q1 2011. The company posted a $1.71 billion (€1.3 billion) loss for the timeframe.

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