Judging by the market reaction, you'd think that Nokia
Before breaking out the champagne, consider the fact that this rocket-boosted jump only brought Nokia shares back to where they were a week ago. To put the freshly erased swoon into further perspective, remember that the Dow Jones
Nokia's sales fell 19% year over year to hit the average analyst's view right on the nose. The year-ago period's adjusted earnings of $0.08 per depositary share turned into a $0.07 loss per share -- which is slightly better than the Street's expectations.
The all-in gamble on smartphones based on Microsoft's
But that's ridiculous, of course. These drastic growth rates are temporary and very typical of brand-new products. In this particular case, near-term growth might actually accelerate as Mr. Softy introduces the Windows Phone 8 platform. This is Microsoft's white knight, akin to BlackBerry 10 from Research In Motion
But that's far from a safe bet. I worry that both RIM and NokiSoft might reprise the sad story of Palm instead. The WebOS software was hailed as the second coming of user-friendly interfaces, but great reviews didn't convert into strong sales. Palm is now a defunct division of Hewlett-Packard, abandoned even by its would-be savior.
Nokia set the bar very low for the third quarter with universally disappointing guidance. The current quarter is a sacrifice bunt, and everything depends on Nokia nailing the holidays this year. Add Nokia to your Foolish watchlist to keep a close eye on the Windows gambit, but be prepared for salty language and unhappy endings.
The smartphone revolution is hardly over. Our senior technology analyst certainly thinks Apple is still a buy. He spells out exactly why in our brand-new premium report on Apple.