The head of Nokia’s smartphone decision has resigned, becoming the first casualty of changes at the top of the mobile-phone company.
Anssi Vanjoki will stay in his job for now and has a six- month notice period, the Finland-based company said in a statement today.
Nokia last week appointed Microsoft's business division president Stephen Elop to take over from Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as chief executive officer.
Mr Vanjoki, a 20-year Nokia veteran, will be the last executive remaining from chairman Jorma Ollila's 1990s "Dream Team," which also included Mr Kallasvuo, whose final day on the job is September 20th.
Mr Elop will take over the next day.
Barclay's Capital upgraded Nokia to "overweight" from "equal weight," and said in a note dated today that it expects Mr Elop to help the company's stuttering software operations and possibly change its operating systems.
"This marks the end of an era at Nokia and could signal further management changes to follow," CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood said.
Nokia gained as much as 2.6 per cent to €7.99 and was trading up 2.4 per cent at €7.98 at 12.13 pm in Helsinki.
"We believe new CEO Stephen Elop will bring much-needed software development
expertise to Nokia," Andrew Gardiner and other analysts wrote in the Barclay's report.
The appointment of the 46 year-old Canadian "does signal that Nokia recognizes the need for dramatic change."
Nokia's smartphone market share slid to 37.4 per cent in the second quarter from 45 per cent a year earlier, according to Gartner Inc., as the company failed to bring out a touchscreen model that could compete with Apple's iPhone.
Mr Vanjoki was tapped to head the smartphone unit in a management reshuffle in May following a drop in profits and investor criticism.
A former 3M executive, Mr Vanjoki has been credited with building the brand, including choosing the distinctive Nokia ringtone. The company turned to him for flamboyant introductions of new models, including the N97 touchscreen with Qwerty keyboard, which flopped against the iPhone last year because of slow hardware and poor integration with services.
He is scheduled to be on stage at the Nokia World event in London tomorrow as the company shows off its N8 touchscreen and unveils other new products.
Bloomberg