Nokia: Lumia 800 is Flying Off the Shelves

Nokia this week reported that initial sales of its first Windows Phone handset, the Lumia 800, are well above expectations. The news comes shortly after a rumor in Forbes that claimed Lumia sales were "surprisingly weak."

Not so, Nokia says.

"Based on earliest data, the sales start of the Lumia 800 is the best ever first week of Nokia smart phone sales in the UK in recent history," Nokia spokesman James Etheridge said. "While it is not our policy to disclose individual product sales figures outside our quarterly financial results, we feel there has been premature sales analysis on the performance of the Lumia 800."

Nokia further noted that the Lumia 800 has received the highest score of any Nokia device launched in recent history in the UK, "a critical metric for long-term success."

As for that spurious Forbes report, a later addendum reveals that the source wasn't referring to actual sales, but rather to the belief of an analyst from Pacific Crest, whatever that is, that "shipments of Nokia's Windows Phone 7 units in the December quarter could prove disappointing." I guess we'll find out.

Forbes has been busy dumping on Nokia all week, and I'm nervous to look back further in time given what I found after just a short look. The previously mentioned post appeared Monday. On Tuesday, the site published a screed called Anatomy of the Nokia Downdraft, which says that "Nokia has tanked spectacularly over the past two days." (There's even some Wag the Dog stuff in there, given that most of the bad news about Nokia seems to be coming from this site.) Then today, the site provided us with an explanation of how Nokia's Windows Phone handsets could be made more cheaply. You know, because they're apparently too well made right now. I'd love to see Forbes' advice for Apple.

And that doesn't even count the Nokia Siemens job cut story, which, unlike that other BS, is actually legitimate news. Sigh.