Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Nokia chairman to step down in 2012


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The shakeup at Nokia continued on Tuesday as the Finnish mobile phone maker announced that its chairman, Jorma Ollila, would be stepping down in 2012.

The announcement comes on the heels of Monday's resignation of Nokia's smartphone business chief Anssi Vanjoki. The revolving door of executives started turning on Friday after Nokia said it had hired Microsoft Corp. executive Stephen Elop to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuoits as chief executive.

Ollila had served as chairman for 14 years and oversaw the company's rise to the top of the mobile pyramid. But he also witnessed the Nokia's recent inability to keep pace with rivals like Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and manufacturers that chose to implement Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) popular Android software.

Nokia remains the largest handset maker in the world and commands a 40% of the smartphone market, according to IDC. But the company's devices have yet to take off in the United States -- and IDC expects Nokia's share to drop by about 18% over the next four years as Android and soon-to-be-released Microsoft Windows Phone 7 smartphones grow in popularity. To fight that onslaught, Nokia on Tuesday unveiled a new lineup of upcoming smartphones.

Shares of Nokia (NOK) have tumbled by about 70% since the iPhone was released in the summer of 2007.

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