Nokia today announced its first quarter 2012 results, and although the company seems encouraged by sales of its Lumia devices in the U.S., overall Q1 2012 didn't exactly go swimmingly for the Finnish firm. At the end of Q1, Nokia reports that it sold 82.9 million mobile devices worldwide, 11.9 million of which were smartphones. Those figures are rather significant drops from Q1 2011, though, with mobile devices sales dropping 24 percent and smartphones sales slumping 51 percent year-over-year. Nokia reports that it sold 1.9 million Lumia smartphones in the first quarter but that overall sales results "have been mixed," adding that sales "exceeded expectations" in the U.S. but that gaining momentum in other markets (like the U.K.) "has been more challenging."

As for its financials, Nokia reports that it gained $9.4 billion in revenue in the first quarter. However, it also posted an operating loss of $1.7 billion for the quarter.

Nokia also made a couple of other noteworthy announcements this morning alongside its Q1 2012 report. Colin Giles, Nokia's executive vice president of sales, will be stepping down to spend more time with his family. Nokia says that it'll also be restructuring its sales organization by cutting a layer of sales management. The other news is that Nokia's Lumia 610 has begin making its way into Asia, with sales kicking off in the Philippines in the last week of April and then spreading to other areas including China, Singapore and Vietnam.

The first quarter of 2012 definitely doesn't look like it was terribly kind to Nokia. The company points to "significantly lower Symbian volumes" as an explanation for its decline in smartphone sales, although it notes that the drop in Symbian sales was partially offset by sales of its Lumia devices. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop says that his company has made progress on its new strategy over the past year but that Nokia has faced "greater than expected competitive challenge," adding that the firm is "focused on responding urgently" in the short term. It'll definitely be interesting to see what Nokia does in the coming months to try and rebound, so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can find all of the company's announcements at the Nokia links below.

Via MobileBurn, Nokia (1), (2), (3)