We told you last week to expect a roller coaster and that's exactly what Nokia has delivered with their Q3 2012 financial results. The company has announced an operating loss of 567 million Euros (approx. $743 million USD). There's a mix of good and bad in the report, and unfortunately the bad is mostly related to their Windows Phones.

Nokia sold 2.9 million Lumias worldwide in this past quarter, which is a quarter-on-quarter decline from the 4 million units the company moved in Q2. Nokia says the "tough transitional quarter" is the result of their new Windows Phone 8 product announcements in early September, but regardless it is a bit worrisome that sales were unable to remain steady. Tallying up past data, we now know that Nokia has been able to sell about 10 million Lumias globally since Q4 2011. Easily the top-selling Windows Phones, but it pales in comparison to competition from Google's Android handsets and Apple's iPhone.

While we knew the emphasis would be placed on Lumia sales, we also told you last time that Nokia was busy with a lot of other movements in the quarter. Nokia has successfully integrated 50 imaging experts from their Scalado acquisition into their Smart Devices division. The company has also offloaded some 1,000 employees in the divestment of Vertu to EQT VI.

Then there's Nokia's Location and Commerce division, which has consistently been a bright spot among Nokia's dire past results. During the quarter, the division was able to secure quite a few contracts with big names like Amazon and Oracle, as well as less reputable services like Turkish broadcasting corporation Spectrum Medya. Nokia was also very successful in securing contracts in the auto industry with BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Peugeot, and Pioneer all planning to leverage NAVTEQ mapping data.

Overall, Nokia has improved in a few key areas but this is still considered by the company as a transitional period as they move into the holiday sales mania of Q4. Let's hope Lumia devices around the world and on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon will help Nokia dig itself out of this hole.

Source: Nokia