Nokia's new CEO is Microsoft's Stephen Elop

Nokia has just announced that CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is the old, and Microsoft’s Stephen Elop (left in picture) is the new; CEO that is. Kallasvou has been Nokia’s CEO since June 2006, but the company clearly took some hits with Apple’s entrance into the smart phone business in 2007 with the iPhone.

Starting September 21st, he will move to a board of directors position and Elop will make his trip from Redmond’s business chief to a brand new office. Nokia Chairman, Jorma Ollia offers the following statment about Nokia’s change in leadership:

“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.”

Apple has clearly changed the game world wide with their iPhone, and it is clear that Nokia is amidst a downfall because of it. Their smartphone market share has dropped significantly over the years, and notably fell from 45% to 37.4% in Q2 2009.