Nokia has just announced a total operating loss of €576 million (around $754 million) for the third quarter of 2012. When offset against Microsoft's quarterly "platform support payment," the company's net cash fell from €4.2 billion ($5.5 billion) to €3.56 billion ($4.7 billion) quarter-over-quarter. For perspective, Nokia had €5.07 billion ($6.64 billion) in the bank this time last year. The results are slightly above analyst expectations, and don't come as a huge surprise: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told reporters and investors that Q3 was going to be a "challenging" quarter during a Q2 earnings conference. Although the continuing losses are unsustainable, Nokia's restructuring and lay-offs appear to be stabilizing the company's finances, and non-IFRS income was €78 million ($102 million).

The company's Lumia line has been in a state of limbo after it was announced that the smartphones would not be upgraded to Windows Phone 8. It managed to sell just 2.9 million Lumias, compared to four million last quarter and two million the quarter before. This is the first quarter that Lumia sales have dropped since launch, and the average price of Lumias sold dropped from €186 ($244) to €160 ($210) quarter-over-quarter. With Symbian sales continuing to plummet, it's fair to say that this has been yet another difficult quarter for Nokia.

Nokia predicts a gloomy fourth quarter

Looking towards the next quarter, Nokia has again warned investors to expect another challenging quarter in "Smart Devices," thanks to what the Finnish manufacturer calls "product transitions and our ramp up plan for our new devices." Stephen Elop will be answering questions at a meeting for analysts and investors later today, and we'll be listening in to bring you any further news.