Apple Catches Nokia in Profits

There is a difference between being at the top and being considered at the top by most people. You’d be surprised what companies get away with marketing and colorful promotions these days. Apple has been very successful with its mobile phone, but Nokia has been the king of smart-phones for a while. Apple has just been playing from behind (though coming strong). The company has finally pulled off what can be considered a mild upset by surpassing Nokia as the most profitable mobile company in the world. Apple has generated $1.6b in profits in comparison to $1.1b profits for Nokia.

Nokia is still the king of smart-phones. But the company is bleeding badly, and it needs to find a way to reverse its fortunes if it wants to keep its status in the mobile market. Nokia phones are not terrible. The company just doesn’t seem to be able to put together a strong effort against the ecosystem that Apple has built around the iPhone. With Apple expected to grow even further in the near future, Nokia has its work cut out for it. 

Nokia may have failed with its attempt to put the iPhone in its place with N95 and all its other supposed “iPhone killers.” But it is not going to give up without a major fight with Apple:

A successful fight on Apple’s high-profit home turf can simultaneously help to revitalize Nokia’s margins and help put a check on Apple’s surging growth

Nokia has also sued Apple recently, so it might be able to get Apple to pay up if the suit is successful. One can argue that at the end of the day none of these issues matter. While Apple is growing its number of iPhone apps, Nokia keeps coming up with shiny smart-phones that fail to effectively challenge Apple’s products. The trend is simply not favorable for Nokia. But things can change quickly these days. Maybe Android can help Nokia reverse this trend.