Nokia Q2 Results Are Out. Profits Fall As Smartphones Get Cheaper

And the results are in - Nokia just announced their Q2 financial results. To summarize - sales are up, profits are down, shifting currency exchange rates didn't help and smartphones have sold more units and have gotten cheaper, compared to previous periods.

The net sales for the Nokia Corporation 10 005 million euro (12.842 billion US dollars) and the net operating profit is 660 million euro. Net sales are 1% higher than the year ago quarter and 5% higher the previous quarter. However, operating profit has fallen.

Looking at just the mobile phone division, it has net sales of 6 800 million euro (3% higher YoY and 2% higher QoQ) and 643 million euro operating profit - 16% down YoY and 23% down QoQ.

"Converged mobile devices" (that is smartphones and mobile computers) accounted for just over half of those sales. That's 12% more sales than converged devices managed in last year's second quarter.

This is likely due to the noticeable drop in the average selling price for smartphones - it's 143 euro (184 USD) for the second quarter of this year, down from 181 euro (232 USD) for last years Q2. That's a 21% drop. Feature phones have a mostly stable average selling price of 39 euro.

Nokia attributes the falling gross margins to "price pressure" in the high-end segment and depreciation of the euro. Industry-wide shortages of some components had a negative impact on sales and Nokia predicts those shortages will continue into the third quarter as well.

Apple Gets All Defensive, Free iPhone 4 Cases 4 Everyone

Apple just finished off its press conference dedicated on the iPhone 4 reception issues leaving us quite puzzled, to say the least. At one point Steve Jobs was saying that every phone has a weak spot, then he claimed everybody makes mistakes but Apple is quick to fix theirs so that's why they have loyal users. Apple wants its users happy and since everyone cries for free cases, they will give away free cases. But not because they've messed up, but only because "they loves their users".

How about that? Apparently the problem with the iPhone 4 antenna had been blown way out of proportion by the "bad press". The iPhone 4 reputation obviously has been ruined by its incorrect signal representation and the easily accessible weak spot.

"There is no perfect phone." - says Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs. This may very well be true, but we never heard of another phone dropping calls when held in the most natural of ways.

Afterwards they treated us to several slides, suggesting that only a minor portion of users were troubled by the iPhone 4 flawed antenna design.

Okay, let’s explain how this works – when it’s a design issue, it means that EVERY user will have it. Of course those lucky enough to live in an area with very strong signal will be less affected by it, but that’s a whole different story.

Obviously only about 0.5 percent of all customers complained directly to Apple about reception issues. But how about that everyone who opened a tech site for the past two weeks (or knew a guy who did) was perfectly aware what was going on and knew that this call will do them no good.

At least Apple decided to do the decent thing and give a free case to every iPhone 4 user. Plus they are willing to waive the restocking fee for everyone who wants to return the handset in the next 30 days. Just bear in mind that it’s not the Bumpers that Apple is giving away but some other type of cases by another manufacturer. User will even have some kind of choice.

Steve Jobs also mentioned the other big issue with the iPhone 4 – its faulty proximity sensor. He promises they are already working on a fix for that and it will be coming with a future software update. Not much of a consolation really, as proximity sensor problems, unlike antenna issues have been troubling even people in areas with great coverage.

Now you can bet that being treated like fools and being told that there is no problem when it’s pretty clear that a problem exists is not our favorite thing. Still we cannot see Apple doing much better than this – you didn’t really expect them to recall all phones and replace them at an indefinite time in the future when they come up with a better design, did you?

So that’s about it for now, we’ll keep you posted when we get more info about those promised cases. And of course we will continue hoping that Apple come up with a solution and fix the problem in some future batch of handsets.

P.S. Steve Jobs confirmed they're right on track with the next wave of iPhone availability scheduled for the 30 July. 17 more countries will get the iPhone 4 then. Plus the white iPhone 4 is expected to ship in the end of July too.

Major UK Roadmap Leaks - HTC Gold, Ace & Vision, Nokia E7 & Samsung Cetus On The Way

Today I stumbled upon a major UK roadmap leak, bringing bringing some juicy information. HTC Gold, Ace and Vision, Nokia E7, and Samsung i8700 Cetus and brand-new BlackBerry Curve 9300 - they're all unannounced and they will all star in this year's releases.

August is the month for BlackBerry Curve 9300. It targets the mid-range market and will come with 3.2 megapixel camera and the typical portrait QWERTY keyboard.

October is the time when Nokia N8 and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 will hit the shelves. But the good news don't stop here.

HTC Vision and HTC Ace are also scheduled for launch in October. Vision is a Desire twin with a sliding full QWERTY keyboard, while Ace is still a mystery.

November seems to be the most interesting month of all. HTC Gold (also known as Mondrian) should make its premiere then. It's supposed to be the company's first Windows Phone 7 device.

Nokia E7 (most probably the rumored Nokia N9) will launch as well borrowing the N8's aluminum body and Symbian^3, while upgrading it with QWERTY keyboard and tilting screen. It might turn out that E7 is the successor of the Nokia N97.

Finally comes Samsung i8700 Cetus, which is also rumored for November release. Perhaps it will be a high-end Bada OS device.

Well, that's all I know so far. I expect some of these handsets to make the news this summer.

Android 3.0 Gingerbread Detailed, Juicy Specs Confirmed

Froyo is barely out the door, but attention is already turning to the next Android version - 3.0 Gingerbread. It will impose minimum hardware requirements, the UI is getting overhauled and Android is splitting into two.

Android 3.0 Gingerbread, says Eldar Murtazin, edotor-in-chief of Mobile-review.com, will be for high-end devices only. A 1GHz CPU and 512MB RAM at minimum plus a display over 3.5" inches in diagonal. Android 2.1 Eclair/2.2 Froyo will remain and run on mid-range and low-end phones.

This will officially lead to the Android platform splitting into two. With so many complaints about platform segmentation now, we can only imagine what it will be when this happens.

Anyway, Android 3.0 Gingerbread will add support for a new resolution - 1280x760 (just over 720p) for screens 4" and bigger (the iPad has a 4:3 1024x768 screen). This should mostly benefit Android-based tablets, which have only recently started cropping up.

The new version will also bring the end to 3rd-party UIs - still, HTC, Samsung, Motorola and the rest will be able to keep their mods for the 2.1/2.2 branch of Android. The new UI for Android 3.0 Gingerbread is said to take its cue from the Gallery App on the Nexus One - the feel, the transitions and so on.

Android 3.0 Gingerbread is expected in mid-October - and we expect the first phone to get it to be the Nexus One (it meets the requirements). Unless the oft rumored Nexus Two beats it to the punch.

And as always unofficial ports will become available for current phones. But let's not put the cart before the horse - all this is still rumors, there's no official word from Google just yet.