New York, Sept. 14: A shake-up at the top of Nokia continued on Monday after the company said the head of its smartphone business would be leaving.
Nokia, which is the largest maker of mobile phones in the world, also confirmed that its longtime board chairman, Jorma Ollila, might step down from the board after the company’s general meeting in 2012.
The announcement of the departure of the head of the smartphone business, Anssi Vanjoki, a board member who has worked at Nokia for 19 years, came just days after Nokia named a new chief executive. It appointed Stephen Elop, a Canadian who headed Microsoft’s business software division, to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
One analyst pointed to the high-level staff changes as signs that Nokia was seeking a transformation after losing ground to Apple and its iPhone.
“It would have been a mixed signal to investors to replace the chief executive and have the board chairman stay on,” said the analyst, Mats Nystrom of SEB Enskilda Bank in Stockholm.
Mr Ollila oversaw the company’s ascent to the top of the market during his tenure as chief executive from 1992 through 2006. He also oversaw the selection of Mr Kallasvuo, who was then his chief financial officer, as his successor.
Mr Ollila was quoted by Finnish news media over the weekend as saying that he intended to remain at the board’s disposal as chairman until 2012, a deadline that investors interpreted as indicating his intention to leave the company. Nokia confirmed on Monday that he was considering stepping down in 2012.
Nokia has maintained its global market lead, currently 38 percent of the market, according to the British research firm Canalys. But it has struggled to match the iPhone’s success and has stagnated in the United States, where it has less than 10 percent of the market. Its share price has lost more than half its value since 2007, when the iPhone was introduced.
“There was a feeling among some investors that the board at Nokia should have done something sooner to address the situation,” Mr Nystrom said.
Mr Ollila said last week that the board had considered several internal and external candidates before deciding on Mr Elop, 46, a native of Ancaster, Ontario, to become the first non-Finn to be chief executive of Nokia. Mr Vanjoki ran the smartphone business from 2004-8, and again from May of this year. He was most likely one of several internal candidates considered for chief executive.In a statement on Monday, Nokia said Mr Vanjoki, who holds the title of executive vice president and general manager for mobile solutions, had decided to leave in six months, after his notice period expired. Mr Kallasvuo is remaining at the company as chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks.