Once might Finnish cell phone-maker Nokia reported abysmal second quarter earnings on Thursday morning, reporting a loss of $1.1 billion. Perhaps more forebodingly for Nokia’s future and its partnership with Microsoft, the company reported selling only 4 million of its highly-rated Lumia line of Windows Phone-powered smartphones globally, and only 600,000 in North America. While not quite as bad as the about 300,000 in the U.S. figure estimated by analysts, it is still not anywhere close to enough to help Nokia retain smartphone market share lost to Apple’s iPhone and Google Android devices.
Still, Nokia says it is holding out hope for the greater success of future Windows Phone 8 devices, despite the fact that its current devices will not be upgradable to the new operating system, which is due out in the fall.
“We believe the Windows Phone 8 launch will be an important catalyst for Lumia,” the company wrote it its earnings release.
