Nokia posts third-quarter loss on weak sales

Nokia saw weak mobile-phone sales in the third quarter, but said the mobile-device industry will not fall as much as it had feared in 2009.

Overall, Nokia reported a surprise loss of €559m (£511m). The company on Thursday said it wrote down the value of its telecom equipment unit, Nokia Siemens. Nokia third-quarter revenue was down 20 percent from a year ago and down one percent from the second quarter.

Nokia is a good global demand indicator for mobile devices. The company shipped 108.5 million mobile devices, down eight percent from a year ago, but up seven percent from the second quarter. Nokia estimated that its mobile-device market share held steady at 38 percent.

See Nokia posts third quarter loss; Mobile device demand improving on ZDNet.com for more on this story.