Even though the Lumia 920 Windows 8 Phone is the most popular Nokia device in awhile, the Finnish company finds itself in a precarious position as it tries to fight against BlackBerry, Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S series.
The Lumia 920 did well during the 2012 holidays, even in the wake of the iPhone 5 launch, but now that the BlackBerry Z10, HTC One and Galaxy S4 are all ready to go, the real work for Nokia and Windows 8 Phones is about to begin.
As the smartphone field gets more crowded, Nokia is setting its sights on helping Windows Phones attain 10 percent overall market share.
"When we think about the milestones along this journey, we are very focused on first getting to a double-digit market share, talking about Windows Phone collectively," Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told the Guardian.
Elop wasn't keen on setting a timetable for his company's ambitions, but he said the most important thing is simply getting closer.
"Now we have to see if that builds and grows," said Elop. "It is about showing progress, strengthening the brand, improving the financials. It's hard to predict what rate over what time."
Shaun Collins at the CCS research firm, though, thinks Nokia might be making a mistake by going all in with Microsoft and Windows Phone 8.
"Their future as a mobile company is inextricably linked to Microsoft's ambition in the mobile market," he said. "I wonder if some of the relationship has cooled. Maybe Microsoft's ambitions in mobile are cooling."
Collins' statement comes based on the fact that Microsoft will end service updates to Windows Phone 8 in 2014, but that doesn't necessarily signal that Microsoft's mobile ambitions are dead. It could simply be that Redmond intends to release Windows Phone 9 later that year.
For his part, Elop isn't playing into that game.
"There are moments where you fall short of expectations, you issue a profit warning, which causes everyone to cringe," said Elop. "But when I see the employees proud and focused and doing great work, you know there are good times ahead because that's what sets the tone for the whole company."
