Giant Finnish manufacturer Nokia has been facing hard times lately and Q3 2012 results show there are still difficult times ahead. The company is still struggling to make headway in the lucrative smartphone market although sales of its more basic mobile phones continue to hold up the company. However the latest financial report shows a sixth consecutive quarterly loss as the company looks to its more high-end Lumia line for recovery.

Nokia’s Q3 2012 interim report showed sales of €7.24 billion over the quarter, higher than analysts’ expectations of €6.93 billion but less than the €8.98 billion for the same quarter in 2011. In Q3, 2011 net losses were €68 million but in quarter 3 this year net losses were €969. Cash reserves are also down from €4.2 billion at the end of the second quarter to €3.6 billion at the end of Q3. The third quarter results were not a total surprise as Nokia had already cautioned about results.

Nokia seems to be relying on its Lumia phones for revival but so far the promise has not been fulfilled. The Lumia handsets run on Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, which has also failed to take off. One year ago Nokia sold 16.8 million smartphones in Q3, however this year that figure was down to 6.3 million units. In the battle against smartphone titans such as Apple and Samsung it’s significant that Lumia devices accounted for only 2.9 million of those 6.3 million smartphones sold and only 300,000 were sold in the North American market, so crucial for overall success.

There is still success in emerging markets for cheaper devices though, such as the Nokia Asha phones, and in this area sales rose from 73.5 million in Q2 this year to 76.6 million in Q3. Nokia is still looking to its Lumia devices for future success though and a lot is riding on the release of the Nokia Lumia 920 (pictured above) and the Lumia 820, which will launch running the very latest Windows Phone 8 OS next month. Marketing budgets for both phones have been increased significantly from the amount spent on previous Windows Phone device campaigns. As well as this more money is being spent on training retail staff to sell the newest products.

Nokia is surely hoping that these new Lumia phones will notably pick up sales over the lucrative holiday season period but still anticipates Q4 to be a difficult time ahead. With so many impressive smartphones arriving over the next few months it looks as though Nokia’s fortunes could get worse before they get better, if they improve at all that is.

We’re interested to hear your views on Nokia’s financial woes. As sales in emerging markets continue to be strong maybe you think Nokia should focus its attentions with the lower end of the market? Maybe Nokia has found its niche there and should give up trying to compete in the toughly fought mid to high-end smartphone market? Perhaps you’re a Lumia fan and can’t understand why they’ve failed to ignite just yet? Let us know your thoughts on this by sending us your comments.