Despite a Loss, Nokia Reports a Windows-Based Lift BERLIN - Nokia said Thursday that its loss in the second quarter had more than tripled, but the company posted the first tangible gains in its turbulent transition to a Windows-based smartphone business as sales rebounded in the U.S. market. Shares of Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, rose as much as 10 percent in Helsinki after the company said it sold had four million new Lumia smartphones running Windows in the second quarter, more than analysts had expected. Sales of Nokia smartphones rose 45 percent in North America, to 128 million, the first such increase in at least a decade. The company's loss in the three months through June was €1.4 billion, or $1.7 billion. Nokia's chief executive, Stephen Elop, said the upcoming release of Windows Phone 8 software, expected in October and promising better coordination between computers and smartphones running Microsoft software, would further lift sales of Lumia devices. "Nokia is taking action to manage through this transition period," Mr. Elop, a former Microsoft executive, said in a statement. We shipped four million Lumia smartphones in Q2. We believe the Windows Phone 8 launch will be an important catalyst for Lumia. Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst with International Data Corp. in London, said Nokia's nonsmartphone business, which makes up 60 percent of sales, had performed strongly in the quarter, demonstrating the Finnish handset maker's ability to keep pace with lower-cost rivals. Nokia sold 73.5 million such phones, up 2 percent from a year earlier. The company also said that its unprofitable network equipment venture, Nokia Siemens Networks, had generated an operating profit in the quarter, turning a corner in its two-year restructuring plan. "Nokia's quarterly loss was less than expected, and the volumes of its basic feature phones are increasing, which is a good sign," Mr. Jeronimo said. The results on Lumia show that the company's turnaround strategy, which is a long-term project, could succeed. Nokia had not previously released sales figures on its four Lumia handsets, which were introduced starting last October, but the company had signaled to analysts that Lumia sales in the first quarter were about 2.2 million. The positive results on Lumia overshadowed continued negative results in the quarter 18 months into Nokia's turbulent smartphone transition away from its Symbian operating system, which is being phased out and continues to dampen financial results. Sales in the second quarter fell 19 percent, to €7.54 billion. The quarterly loss followed a €929 million loss in the first quarter and compared with a €368 million loss in the period a year earlier. In its statement, Nokia blamed most of the declines on falling demand for Symbian devices, which could not be offset by rising demand for Lumia devices. The results provided a rare bit of good news for beleaguered Nokia, the erstwhile leader of the mobile phone business, now fighting for survival in an industry dominated by Apple, Samsung and makers of handsets running Google's Android operating system. One analyst said the introduction of Lumia handsets later this year running Windows Phone 8 software could help Nokia cement its turnaround. "Nokia has been in free fall in recent quarters, and while it is not out of the woods yet, it does seem as if it is pretty close to the bottom," said Pete Cunningham, an analyst at Canalys in Reading, England.