Smartphone wars – Nokia exec says MeeGo now

5 Oct 2010

Mobile phone giant Nokia has lost another senior executive, this time it’s Ari Jaaksi, the senior vice-president in charge of Nokia’s MeeGo devices.

Jaaksi is leaving just months before Nokia was about to press go on the manufacture of high-end devices based on the MeeGo operating system.

MeeGo is the new operating system that Nokia developed in collaboration with Intel and is seen as the key weapon that will enable Nokia to win back territory lost to the iPhone and the swarm of Android devices currently loose in the marketplace.

The first MeeGo devices are expected to launch by the end of 2010.

Jaaksi’s decision to step down comes amid a flurry of departures in recent weeks. Ex-Microsoft executive Stephen Elop has taken over from former CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

Meanwhile, Nokia’s top smartphone developer, mobile solutions chief Anssi Vanjoki decided to resign after he was passed over for the CEO role.

Chairman Jorma Ollila will be stepping down in 2012.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com