It comes as no surprise that Nokia is still recovering from the fairly recent restructuring, brought about by the acquisition of its devices & services units department by Microsoft. But while a lot of people might think the Finnish tech giant is all but dead the latest fiscal report for 2014 definitely shows otherwise. The fact is that even though Microsoft is, for the time being at least, in charge of the Lumia brand Nokia is still a very reputable player in terms of network equipment and services and still carries out productive research activities.

That being said the Finnish company has still a lot to account for when it comes to its three main divisions – Nokia Networks, Nokia Technologies and HERE. Even since the aforementioned acquisition was completed sales numbers and operation costs have been on the rise and the latest report now confirms that in Q4 2014 Nokia finally achieved higher overall net sales over the same period in 2013 when Microsoft was still out of the picture.

The year over year change is about 9% from 3 476 million net sales in Q4 2013 to 3 802 million in Q4 2014. This represents an even more impressive 14% quarter over quarter rise. Nokia seems to be getting on its feet again and predominantly thanks to Nokia Networks, which reals in more of the income with its operations stretching all around the world, but most notably in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Operational profit increase is even more impressive with 28% overall growth from 2013 and an impressive 25% for Nokia networks in particular.

Even though networking seems to reel in the big money this is not to say that Nokia's other two major divisions are not doing good. On the contrary, Nokia Technologies, the dedicated research department marks a 23% yearly growth in net sales over 2013, but sadly a drop in operating profits. HERE, which concerns itself mostly with navigation and the HERE software, recently made available for Android is in pretty much the same position with 15% yearly net sales increase and 20% drop in operating profits.

Rajeev Suri, current CEO of Nokia had this to say about the report:

The power of the new Nokia could be seen in our fourth quarter results. All of our businesses delivered strong year-on-year net sales growth. Profitability was excellent in Nokia Networks, and we were particularly pleased with our net sales growth in North America and core networks. HERE continued its momentum in the automotive segment, and the early reception to the Nokia N1 tablet has been remarkably favorable, showing the ongoing power of the Nokia brand and the long-term potential of our brand licensing business. Looking ahead, while 2014 was a year of reinvention, we see 2015 as a year of execution.

Things seem to be finally looking up for Nokia and with the Nokia N1 tablet already captivating users, perhaps the Finnish company still has a chance to regain some of its former glory on the mobile market, but for now all eyes are on Microsoft to take proper care of the Lumia…

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It's been a hectic several weeks for accountants the world over, and after Apple boasted record numbers, now LG's figures have been published. LG Mobile Communications Company reports a $14.26B annual revenue, a steady 16% increase on a yearly basis.

The rise is fueled in no small part by the North American market, where Q4 2014 marked a substantial 78% increase in units shipped compared to the same period in 2013.

Out of a total of 78.2M handsets sold globally, 59.1M were smartphones, a 24% increase. The smartphone sales are reported to be the reason for the boost in full-year consolidated revenue to $55.91B.

The figures of the mobile subsidiary are only average for the corporation as a whole. LG Home Entertainment Company (the one making HDTVs) is the top dog with a 31% percent increase in revenue to $18.35B.

More importantly, the combined net profit of the conglomerate has skyrocketed to $474.81M, a massive 125% increase over 2013 numbers. Operating profit has seen a notable 46% growth to $1.73B, as…

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Thanks to the record-smashing sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple has tied with Samsung to become the top smartphone vendor in the world in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a Strategy Analytics report.

The Cupertino-based company shipped a total of 74.5 million smartphones in the last quarter, up from 51 million it shipped in the same quarter in 2013. On the other hand, although Samsung too shipped the same number of handsets, there was a decline compared to Q4, 2013, when the company had shipped 86 million smartphones.

For the year as a whole, Samsung remained at the top with total shipments of 317.2 million, which translates into 24.7% share of the market. This compares to 2013, when the company's overall smartphone shipments stood at 319.8 million, giving it a 32.3% market share.

"Samsung continues to face intense competition from Apple at the higher-end of the smartphone market, from Huawei in the middle-tiers, and from Xiaomi and others at the entry-level," the report said, adding that the company "may soon have to consider taking over rivals, such as Blackberry, in order to revitalize growth this year."

Apple came in next with total shipments of 192.7 million units, capturing 15% of the smartphone market. That was up from the 153.4 million shipments the Cupertino-based company reported for 2013. Chinese players Lenovo and Huawei captured the third and the fourth spots with 7.2% and 5.8% market share, respectively.

Overall, 380.1 million smartphone units were shipped in Q4 2014, up 31 percent year-on-year, while a total of around 1.3 billion smartphones shipped for the whole…

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