Nokia Counts 1.5 Billion S40 Phones Sold

Nokia announced yesterday it has sold the 1.5 billionth Series 40 phone to a 21 year old woman in São Paulo Brazil. The phone sold was a Nokia Asha 303, which comes with a touch screen and a pre-installed version of Angry Birds Lite– a big step up from the Nokia 7110, the first S40 phone sold in 1999. This comes on the heels of Apple’s attention grabbing earnings and sales numbers, where it reported it has sold 138 million iPhones since they came into existence in 2007.

Nokia told the BBC that it estimates that there are currently 675 million active owners of S40 phones in the world, and that they are currently selling about 12 phones of the S40 family every second.  While S40 may not be the top system Nokia is throwing its weight behind, it is still providing a cheap and scalable feature set that are blurring the lines between feature-phones and smartphones.

On the announcement, Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President for Mobile Phones at Nokia said, “We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone. Having 1.5 billion Series 40 devices sold is a hard-to-reach mark, let alone one attainable in a single line of products. At a time when we are maintaining our commitment to connecting the next billion customers around the world – it is gratifying to consider how Series 40 devices have made mobile technology accessible and help continue to change people’s lives for the better.”