Nokia may still be the biggest mobile phone maker in the world in terms of sheer numbers of handsets sold, but in terms of profitability, it has been eclipsed by Apple and its single-model phone business. According to Strategy Analytics' Senior Analyst Alex Spektor, Q1 2011 wholesale handset revenues for Apple is estimated at $11.9 billion versus the $9.4 billion performance seen from Nokia for the same period.

The the recent fiscal quarter, Apple announced that it sold 18.65 million units–up from 16.24 million last quarter, of its iPhone. For that period, Nokia produced 24.2 million smartphones–models aimed at competing with Apple's contender, but has a total production of 108.5 million handsets for the same quarter. This brings Nokia's average selling price per phone to only $87 while Apple rakes in an estimated (Apple has not disclosed pricing to carriers) $638 before carrier subsidies.

This revenue gap helps explain why Apple's iPhone revenues at $11.9 billion makes up just a shade over half of its total revenue of $24.67 billion. So it is no surprise that almost every phonemaker out there is trying to shake Aple's tree. Android-based smartphones have already collectively overtaken the iPhone in terms of market share and one particular maker, HTC has just announced market capitalization exceeding that of Nokia. Nokia's recently announced alliance with Microsoft is expected to see the Finnish firm releasing Windows Mobile-based products as early as late this year with a full-scale roll-out by 2012.

The market is ever hopeful that new products positioned to compete with Apple will leapfrog by a generation of development because this may be the only way to blunt the Cupertino juggernaut. Unfortunately, new product releases have looked like catch-up models or models repositioned for specific segments the latter quite obvious with Nokia's E-series smartphones.