Microsoft up, Nokia smartphone sales slump

Microsoft has lifted its first-quarter profits by six percent, mainly as a result of higher sales of its Office suite but was hindered by small gains from its Windows operating software, which saw sales rise by a paltry two percent.

The software company reported net profits of $5,74-billion, up from $5,41-billion for the same period last year. Overall sales rose to almost $17,4-billion.

In separate development, Nokia reported a smaller-than-expected loss for its third quarter and said that it was confident it would return to profit in the final quarter of the year when the new smartphones go on sale running the Windows Phone software.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop will introduce the new phones at a Nokia World event in London. The move to the new platform is like to spell the demise of the older Symbian operating system that Nokia has used since its inception.

Nokia shares rose by 11% to the highest level in more than five months. Overall handset shipments fell by 3 percent to 106-million units but the smartphone segment slumped by 38% to 16,8-million as Nokia continued to lose ground the Apple and Android smartphones.

View Microsoft's first quarter results.
View Nokia's financials.