The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer meanders through the highs and lows of the company’s global 2009 fourth quarter financial performance, and overall, it is quite a disappointing holiday period for Nokia as profits hit a  21% depression.

This surprising report has harnessed statements and conclusions from various analysts in town. Here are some notable insights from New York Times:

Former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop: “Nokia faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution”. Despite the overall lag, he still thinks that Nokia’s last quarter hurrah for 2010 was pretty solid considering competitions from all corners of the planet and that growth prospects in the industry is still great.

An analyst at Informa Telecoms in LondonMalik Saadi thinks “the only way for Nokia to break the negative streak is to discard Symbian for either Microsoft’s Windows 7 Mobile or for Google’s Android operating systems.” He added, “Nokia will have to rely on both Google and Microsoft to update their operating systems and could lock itself into the roadmap of these partners.”

The figures in the same report dashed just 2 points away from the market leader. In this light, competitors like Apple, RIM and Samsung close gaps and threatens Nokia’s worldwide reign. If you recall, Apple has already snatched the title of being the “god of App marketplaces”, winning over Nokia’s Ovi, RIM’s App World and Microsoft’s Marketplace.

It also shows that Nokia consistently posts 3% year-on-year decrease in global mobile device volumes during the fourth quarter 2010. This dilemma was primarily due to the intense competitive environment, as well as certain component shortages and a number of supply and logistics challenges resulting from the tight component availability during the quarter. Late last year, Nokia had to cut 800 jobs and delay the roll out of the promising E7 smartphone.

[image credit: Businessweek]