Nokia's entire report reflects the crisis of the industry and of the Finnish concern. Sales were down 20 percent year-over-year to €9.8 billion (about $14.7 billion). While large parts of the industry however saw a slight upturn during Q3, Nokia's revenues still declined, albeit at a lower rate of 1 percent.

Nokia's only segment that saw rising revenues was Navteq which added 6.4 percent to its sales on a y-o-y basis. The Devices and Services busines segment, Nokia's mobile phones core business, declined almost 20 percent year-over year. However it started recovery during Q3, adding 5 percent to its Q2 sales.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the joint venture dedicated mainly to fixed-line communications, saw exploding losses combined with steeply declining sales figures: While revenues decreased 21 percent to €2.76 billion, operating loss rose from € 1 million in Q3/2008 to more than €1.1 billion in Q3/2009. Along with a minor operating loss in its Navteq business unit this wiped out the profit achieved in the Devices and Services business unit. Under the bottom line, the company lost 0.15 euros per share, down from a profit of 0.28 euros per share in Q3 / 2008 and of still 0.10 euros per share in Q2 / 2009.

In a statement, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo spoke of "challenging competitive factors" that caused the non-cash impairment charges at Nokia Siemens. With respect to the mobile phone business, Kallasvuo said the average selling price for the devices was firm during the quarter, but the company had problems to achieve high volumes because it had encountered component shortages across the portfolio.

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