14 DAY TRIAL // Espoo, Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia is reportedly seeking a new chief executive officer. The largest handset vendor in the world is having hard times with maintaining its market share and keeping the mobile phone market crown over its head, it seems, and is said to have already decided to search for a new leader.
Nokia's current chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, is struggling to keep the company in the race on the high-end market segment, but it seems that things are not looking too bright neither for the phone maker, nor for its CEO. The company has been losing market share lately, while its profits dropped, not to mention that its presence in the high-end market is almost unnoticeable.
According to a recent article on The Wall Street Journal, Nokia's plans to find a new CEO were the result of it being unable to keep up with the advancements brought into the wild by rival companies. Nokia remains the market leader with the largest number of mobile phones sold, but the smartphone market is a place where others rule.
While Nokia declined to comment on the possibility that it would be searching for a new CEO, the news site cites people familiar with the situation, who said that the company is strongly considering making a change, and that the board members are expected to take a decision by the end of the month. The handset vendor already made a series of changes in the top management area, following the posting of lower than expected financial results for the first quarter of the ongoing year.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has held the CEO job since 2006. One year after that, Apple launched its first iPhone device, and Nokia has been struggling ever since to keep up with the chances in the smartphone market. Recently, Nokia has lowered its profits outlook for the ongoing year, stating that its financial performance would be influenced by a “competitive environment, particularly at the high-end of the market.”