Nokia 5800 XpressMusic shipped over a million devices in just 57 days last year. Although dubbed the “Poor Man’s iPhone”, it has turned into a centerpiece for the company.

Now, according to Reuters, GC Capital’s Tero Kuittinen has calculated that the company could ship another 2.5 million in Q1 alone. “The 5800 has clearly been a big success and may well prove to be Nokia’s biggest profit driver in the first half of 2009,” Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey said in a note.

According to JP Morgan analysts, the sales of the handset are boosted by the “new “cheap chic” attitude to consumption”, which boils down to the fact that people are now more interested in cheap mobile upgrades. Nokia dominates the smartphone market with around a 40% share, but has steadily lost ground over the last quarters to new rivals like Apple, which launched its iPhone in 2007.

[via PhoneArena]