In yet another high profile executive exit, the world’s largest cellphone maker, Nokia, on Monday announced the resignation of mobile solutions chief Anssi Vanjoki, who is in charge of its smartphone business.
The surprise announcement comes just two days after the Finnish firm appointed top Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as its new chief executive. He will takeover from incumbent Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo on September 21.
Both developments come at a time when Nokia is struggling to strengthen its position in the highly competitive smart phone market, which is dominated by the likes of Apple and HTC.
“Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice-president and a member of the Nokia group executive board, has given notice of resignation from Nokia,” the company said in a statement.
Mr. Vanjoki took over as the head of the mobile phone-maker’s mobile solutions division just a few months ago.
He will serve a six-month notice period and will continue in his current profile for the time being.
“I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am one hundred per cent committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day,” Mr. Vanjoki said.
The two high profile changes in the top management ranks come ahead of the firm’s annual conference, ‘Nokia World’, which begins in London on Tuesday.
In the fast-growing smartphone market, Nokia is finding it difficult to compete with high-end offerings from Apple, handsets with Google’s Android software and products from Taiwan-based HTC.
Moreover, Nokia is yet to come out with offerings having the latest version of its famed Symbian operating system, which once dominated the smartphone market.
Last Friday, the Finnish entity announced that Mr. Elop, who is Microsoft’s Business Division Head, would takeover the reins of the company.
While announcing the appointment of Mr. Elop, Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila said the time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal and to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths.
