Zacks maintains Nokia Neutral rating

Lead: Zacks, an investment company, today publishes a report that maintains a long-term rating for Nokia's "neutral" (Neutral). The following is a summary of the report: we maintain a long-term rating on Nokia's "neutral". The company's financial results in the fourth quarter of 2010 far exceed Zacks Consensus estimates forecasts. However, the financial outlook provided by management is tepid.　　We remain cautiously optimistic about Nokia's recent decision to take Microsoft Windows Phone 7 as its smartphone operating system. Nokia will use the hardware design and language support advantages in imaging and other areas of the Windows Phone 7 platform innovation. In the past 1.5, Nokia has been affected by indecision in its choice of operating system. Windows Phone 7, although released only 5 months, has gained reasonable market recognition. Windows phone 7 has created a powerful developer community that is a key factor in the success of any smartphone.　　Currently, more than 8,000 apps are available in the Windows Phone 7 App Store. Windows is the most powerful operating system in the global PC World, especially in the United States. We believe that its counterpart in the smartphone sector will give Nokia a favourable foothold in the lucrative North American market, which has never been widely recognised in the market. In addition, Windows Phone 7 software has not been commercialized. Samsung and HTC, the two big companies, have developed parts of the device that use the operating system.　　This shows that Nokia has the opportunity to use professional staff and marketing strategies to provide unique products. Although we believe that the choice of Windows Phone mobile OS may strengthen Nokia's competitive position, the company will still face a series of obstacles. For any mobile phone, the prerequisite for commercial success in the United States is to establish a solid partnership with the operator. This is also a necessary condition for smartphones, as these rich handsets are so expensive that they need to be subsidized by operators to achieve competitive prices.　　The main concern for Nokia is that it has suffered a fiasco in understanding the importance of the partnership between its operators and manufacturers in the US market, leading to its gradual marginalization in the US market. Nokia desperately needs an excellent smartphone. However, we do not believe that the company will be able to launch any smart phones based on Windows Phone 7 by the end of 2011. At the same time, we expect Nokia to lose market share gradually because we have not found any unique products in Nokia's existing portfolio. (Ding Macro)