Nokia taps Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as new CEO

By on Sep 10, 2010 at 7:05 AM
Business September 10, 2010

Just four days before the start of the Nokia World global conference, Nokia Corp. has announced they will replace their current CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, with Microsoft executive Stephen Elop. Mr. Elop was the head of Microsoft’s business division and his resume includes high-ranking positions at Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems, Macromedia, and Boston Chicken (yes, Boston Chicken). Nokia indicated that Elop would assume his newly appointed position on September 21. “The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal — to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success,” said Nokia’s chairman of the board Jorma Ollila. Nokia’s stock jumped 5% when the news was made public.

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  • iHater

    Now… all those comments about MS being ‘late to the game’ in regards to smartphones… what would you say about Nokia at this point? (And I love Nokia BTW, 2nd to HTC).

    • Nick

      All I have to say is Nokia better adopt Android to win its fans back

  • Reggie Bush’s confiscated Heisman Trophy

    Great. Pour on the fail Nokia. Old M$ losers to help out a dying company. Have fun being the largest cell phone company… making flip phones for the 3rd world.

  • debbie barnes

    flops of a feather flock together

    • Johnny Ringo

      Just spitballin’ of course, but maybe if they sold more phones for $1.99 or had some of those killer get 33 for every 1 paid for type of deals, they wouldn’t be such fails?

  • Ben

    I have used/tested phones from early Compaq Ipaq’s with PCMCIA sleeves to iphones, to android phones, symbian phones, etc., and must say that all of the bias is so lame. People are just a bunch of sheep.

    The iphone is not that great. Android is not that great. No phone company is so much better than the other. Most of the apps. are lame also (99.99%). Take a chill pill and just purchase what you like. Don’t lecture others about what is “better”. Bleating sheep.

    • http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

      well said. All have their plusses and minuses. I prefer MeeGo, others like what they like for their own reasons.

      • Johnny Tremaine

        How can you prefer Meego when it’s not even available on any phone yet?

        Are you Doc Brown or something?

    • Nick

      Ur too negative. Android is great, iPhone is great, Blackberry is great, etc. All of them are successful products from great companies. Everyone chooses a phone that suits their needs.

      But overall Android is, or will be the greatest.

      Live wallpapers was enough to make me an Android fan, and thats only a small part of the Android experience.

  • Magnus

    Oh my, what a sorry bunch of comments up to this point.

    Nokia is bringing out Nkoia N8, quite possibly the greatest mobile phone to date and they now have a new CEO with backround in software developement (this guy was responsible for MS Office during his tenure at Microsoft).

    Nokia is going to kick-ass in the coming weeks and months . . .

  • http://c3dude.wordpress.com c3dude

    because microsoft made code is so well known for its quality, efficiency and readability.

  • zee

    Well i guess a windows phone 7 by nokia in near future?

    • miggy

      I wouldn’t count on it.

    • http://garyfales.com california asset protection

      Yes, actually you’re correct about that. I have friends at Nokia.

    • http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

      Not at all. But WP7 and Symbian share apps via Silverlight runtime and web technologies. Microsoft sees Nokia as a company well set for the future. Notice they didn’t add Silverlight to Android or BBOS…

  • miggy

    I know! I keep looking for Nokias on Amazon for $1.99

  • Dara

    Poor Nokia.

    There are something like 350 million Symbian smartphones out in the wild. Their build quality is unmatched so most of them are still working the way they did when they came out of the box.

    Every week, there are half a million more Symbian phones sold than Android phones, and nearly a quarter million more than iPhones.

    So even without the huge lead that Nokia gained from being the originator of the smartphone and being in the market long before the new players, they’re still pulling away considerably.

    This is with their current product portfolio, which is all running old Symbian, some with a bolted on touch interface that is apparently shit(I like buttons,, so I’ve passed so far on touch to continue to use my phone with one hand without looking).

    Now they’ve got a new touch centric OS, that’s still Symbian enough to satisfy their existing customers, which outnumber Apple or Android vets 10 to 1, and a new phone that, once again, redefines the mobile computer, by putting an HTPC in your f’ing pocket!

    Then a few months later, they’re going to release full Linux on a phone.

    Their motto is “Connecting People”. It’s about as accurate a self description that any company has ever provided.

    They don’t care about content providers.

    They don’t care about carriers.

    They don’t care about ecosystems.

    There are no arbitrary restrictions and no nerfing.

    They care about providing the best communication platform possible, and they do.

    • http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

      Thanks for that comment. Couldn’t have said it better. Let the market decide, and stop letting the carriers decide for us.

    • Johnny Tremaine

      If everything is so peachy, then why are they hiring a new CEO, from an entirely different culture, talking about a “change agent”, just a few days before their big media event, Nokia World?

      Because not everything is ‘fine’ in Nokia Land, that’s why.

      • Dara

        They’re starting a new phase and they’ve gone from having a lawyer leading the company to a software guy.

        But if you notice, I never said anything about stock price or corporate health. As a consumer, that doesn’t actually mean anything to me, but it means a lot to the board who ousted Olli.

        Nokia’s renovation plan has been in motion for quite some time. I like where it is and where it’s going, and it would seem that hundreds of millions of other people do too.

      • Johnny Tremaine

        I’ve seen a couple of pieces of speculation around the web (from the WSJ, I think) that this may be a step–an interim CEO spot–while MS acquired Nokia.

        I wouldn’t doubt it. Microsoft has the big pile of cash ($42 Billion) and the rumors are that they’re looking to get into the phone hardware game.

        The Zune interface on a Nokia phone? Could be.

      • Miggy

        They needed a guy who knows how to navigate the U.S Market and make deals with the carriers because in the U.S it’s the carriers who control how phones are produced, marketed and sold.

        The investors know as I do, that they can produced the greatest device in the history of cell phonedom and it wouldn’t matter if the only way to buy it in the most prosperous consumer market in the world was for full cost on Amazon.

        It’s really very simple.

    • Dale

      Dear Dara,

      What a refreshing,knowledgeble post !

      BRAVO !!

    • Rambling Rose

      @dara: stfu

  • Ralph

    Nokia is begging for a leader that has real product vision, instead they replace their old CEO with a sales guy. Keep on truckin’, Nokia.

  • BChau

    I have once worked for the company which Stephen Elop was the CEO. I can say that he was (and still is) a great leader with vision and he was able to execute his plan well. It is a great win for Nokia to have him to lead the company. For those who are cynical, just watch how Nokia will perform in next year’s time.

    • CFO

      So great he got fired?

  • Sir Trashcan

    Nokia is dead! CEO Kallasvuo who got fired managed to destroy Nokia within just a couple of years. Amazing achievement!

  • http://www.aretheyshoes.com MBT US

    i just want to cry

  • bob

    keep fuckin that chicken!

    • Dirty Fins

      Couldn’t have said it better.

  • JM

    Maybe this will get the ball rolling on some innovative products. Change is good every once in a while.

  • JM

    …and wouldn’t it be nice if Nokia were to license WebOS from Palm/HP and use it on sinew of their high-end smartphones? Possibly the best mobile OS running on the best hardware.

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