Apple sold more iPhone 5s in one weekend than Nokia sold Lumias in a quarter

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They say that those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Good advice.

Nokia’s recent attempt to get people to buy their phones is to make fun of Apple’s lack of color in the iPhone. Keep in mind that the iPhone 5 had 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours and sold 5 million in the first couple of days.

Let’s take a quick look at Nokia’s latest numbers posted on July 19:

  • Nokia Devices & Services Q2 net sales decreased 5% quarter-on-quarter
  • Lumia Q2 volumes increased quarter-on-quarter to 4 million units

Now, let’s look at Apple’s, posted July 24:

  • net profit of $8.8 billion
  • sold 26.0 million iPhones

You’ll notice that Apple sold more iPhone 5s in the first weekend than Nokia sold Lumias in an entire quarter (90 days).

And here is Nokia’s ad making fun of the iPhone.



  • http://twitter.com/forty2j Jim McPherson

    So Nokia seems to be implying that they copied the trade dress of an iPhone with a colored bumper…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=567543450 Billy Liar

    Has ‘Snake 3′ been released for those Nokia phones yet?

  • hootieandtheshellfish

    Jim, if you’re going to make the exact same comparisons between two things, try not to mix and match values (you used a PERCENTAGE for Nokia’s net SALES, and then used a DOLLAR AMOUNT for Apple’s net PROFIT).

    And yes, the ad wasn’t that great lol.

  • http://digitizedsociety.tumblr.com/ DigitizedSociety

    That is an art piece not an ad, it is long boring and wouldn’t hold a viewers attention. Non geeks would not be able to read the end frame that is delivering the product name. It looks like “this is lumin”. The Nokia branding of it all is tiny. The add seems to imply that the only differentiator between and iPhone and this “Lumin” product is that the Lumin product comes in vibrant colors.

  • EzraWard

    Well clearly the ad touched a nerve with someone, so I’m not sure it can be easily classified as a failure.

  • Phos…. FourDots

    Oh, Jim. :-( An apostrophe in ‘Lumias?’ Really? Really?!?

  • stayhumble

    What’s with the thin skin? Nokia is not really in a glass house, their phones are more colorful than the iPhone.

    If anything, the beginning of this ad reminds me of the 1984 ad, though I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a copy. And as Apple users we should know better than anybody that lower unit sales shouldn’t automatically be equated with inferior product.

    I don’t have a problem with this ad, but I also don’t think it will have much of an effect. iPhone 5 is the most popular phone because it’s the best for many people, not because they’re indoctrinated.

    • http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

      but I also don’t think it will have much of an effect.

      That’s the point, and that’s the underlying angle. Nokia needs to do something to differentiate it’s phones from the competition.

      Appealing to little girls colour preferences isn’t it.

  • http://twitter.com/baka_rakuda Brett

    Sure the iPhone only comes in 2 colors. But only one of the Lumia’s colors is really interesting IMO. The yellow one. The rest are either drab (black, grey, white) or really garish (purple, aqua, red).

    Where is a nice pink? a green? a decent blue? a purple that doesn’t suck? orange?

    If you want a colorful/personalized phone there are lots of options for the iPhone 5 such as Gelaskins, etc.

    Why not start with the best phone, and then add some personal flair instead of starting with a lesser one just because it comes in a greater array of not so good looking colors?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Sebastian-Paul/1186812355 Sebastian Paul

      Exactly – more colors just mean more unsold inventory if some of the colors are not accepted by the customers.

      Apple sells just two colors and all those who want more ways to differentiate their device have a vast amount of cases, bumpers etc. available.

      If you want Hello Kitty on your phone – buy a Hello Kitty case (instead of the Hello Kitty edition of the Galaxy Y Samsung is selling), if you want your device to sparkle like Edward Cullen, buy an overpriced svarovski case, if you want carbon design – there’s a case for you!

      Apple is keeping their device designs for 2 years, so that lots of manufacturers jump on the bandwaggon and create stuff that will still fit on next years design, which still can be sold for next years design.

      If you were to buy one of the Lumia 920 back covers – you already know that it will NEVER fit on Lumia 1020 or whatever they’ll release 2013.

      The number of case designers working on stuff for iPhones, iPads, MacBooks etc. actually means that you have MORE choice to use the iPhone in exactly the color or design that you love.

  • Boo

    Wouldn’t it be smarter to try to attract the millions of people who don’t have a smartphone yet rather than trying to get people to switch?

    An ad based on how the demand of a competing product is so great they line up to get it doesn’t seem like really a good idea either.

    • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

      Exactly.

      • Boo

        Peace dude.

        • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

          At least until I disagree with you again. ;)

          • Boo

            ;D

  • Lukas

    I’m not following the logic. Is Jim saying that Nokia shouldn’t advertise their phones because they’re selling fewer of them than Apple does?

    • http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

      As above. Nokia needs to do something to differentiate it’s phones from the competition.

      Appealing to little girls colour preferences isn’t it.

  • http://twitter.com/njpozner Neal Pozner

    I thought it was a nice ad. I’m not going to trade in my iPhone for a Lumia because of it, but I thought it was well-produced and visually interesting.

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    It’s a peculiar spot, if you look at it from an American consumer point of view. Minimal identification. Reminds me a bit of some of the animated station breaks that tv networks used to do around the holidays.

  • johndhynes

    You can paint a brick any color, but you still would not have an iPhone. Is that their only advantage?