Nokia may have picked Elop as CEO under pressure

Nokia may have been pushed to hire Stephen Elop as CEO against its will, a Finnish exposé may have uncovered. Kauppalehti claimed that chairman Jorma Ollila had originally wanted to hand-pick the company's smartphone head, Anssi Vanjoki, to take over from the struggling Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo but was threatened with an early ouster by American investors. Vanjoki had been virtually certain and was only replaced by the Microsoft executive just a week before the news became public, the paper said.

The sudden switch was directly blamed for Vanjoki's decision to leave. He was frustrated at not having been chosen for the top spot. Ollila may have resented the move as well as he himself said he would step down from the company board in 2012 just a day after Vanjoki planned his exit.

Nokia isn't expected to confirm any of the details. The news if true would suggest major pressure on the company to get away from its Europe-centric sales focus and its tendency to pick Finnish insiders for executives. Nokia's share has been dropping worldwide and is bleakest in the US, where it has just over seven percent of the total phone audience and virtually no share at all in smartphones. Apple and Google have typically had more modernized hardware and software where Nokia has been very conservative, only just adding elements like multi-touch last year and roughly catching up in performance.

Elop is expected to focus much more on the US and has already taken steps such as folding Symbian back in for better control of the OS. [via IntoMobile]

By Electronista Staff