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HELSINKI, FINLAND – Nokia Corp. has posted a 69% drop in profits for the fourth quarter, stemming from lost market shares and a lackluster demand for its phones during the holiday season.

Net profits fell to 576 million euros (US$751 million), compared to 1.84 billion euros (US$2.38 billion) in 2007. Sales fell 19% to 12.66 billion euros (US$16.39 billion), falling short of forecasts.

Fourth-quarter handset shipments dropped 15% to 113.1 million units, and handset sales fell 27%. The company saw its operating margin decline to 9.8%, compared to 16.7% in 2007.

As a result of its fourth-quarter figures, Nokia lowered its outlook for global industry mobile device volumes. It now expects to see a 10% drop in 2009, compared to an earlier forecast of 5%.

The market share for the fourth quarter was estimated at 37%, compared to 40% in 2007. Nokia reported significant loses in the Middle East, Africa, North America and China but expects to keep its market share at 37% for the first quarter.

The company also plans to cut approximately 1,000 jobs this year.

SMYRNA, GA -- UP Media Group today announced a series of chats led by several well-known industry experts has been added to the technical conference program of its Virtual PCB Web-based trade show, the industry's only virtual trade show and conference for the PCB design, fabrication and assembly markets.

NEW YORK – New York canceled a $2 billion, 20-year contract with M/A-Com Inc., to build a statewide wireless emergency network, citing failures in the initial systems.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Tyco, the parent of M/A-Com, asserted it has fulfilled its side of the contract and expressed disappointment with the state. The company suggested the state’s financial woes were to blame.

The state in response claimed said the contract was canceled after the first systems installed by M/A-Com reportedly were flawed. The state claimed internal tests and independent audits found several flaws ranging from equipment failures to “inconsistent” coverage. The state further claimed M/A-Com was slow in remediating the problems, leading New York to lose confidence in the company.

For its part, Tyco said in the SEC filing that New York’s “current priorities may no longer support the construction of a statewide network.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- According to a Frost and Sullivan report, revenues for the PCB automatic test equipment (ATE) market topped $1.16 billion in 2007 and are expected to reach $1.85 billion in 2014.

Frost and Sullivan concluded that the most notable trend supporting this growth is an increased usage of combination testers because of the versatility of this approach when applied to high density circuit boards and components. Manufacturers using a combination of methods can optimize yields. The combination of functional testing and boundary scan testing has become popular in spite of high equipment cost because it can reduce the overall cost of testing.

“In today's electronic industry, it is highly imperative to have sufficient test coverage to improve product quality, reduce time-to-market and improve manufacturing yields,” says Frost & Sullivan research analyst, Sujan Sami. “Especially in a situation where device complexity, functionality of chips and circuit board architectures are on a rise; cost-effective and efficient test solutions will be the key, and the right combinational testers expect to play a major role.”

“The need for more sophisticated products, especially in the extremely demanding automotive and medical industries drives the need for better quality oriented test equipment,” notes Sami. “The modular functionality of integrating various types of test equipment expects to surpass the need for individual hardware and software testing moving forward.”