Nokia Shakes Up Mobile Business, Management

Nokia has brought in Sun Microsystems vet Rich Green as its new CTO. Kai Oistamo, former executive vice president of the Devices division, will take over as Chief Development Officer and head of Corporate Development.

Effective July 1, Nokia is re-organizing its business into three groups: Mobile Solutions, Mobile Phones and Markets.

The Mobile Solutions group will focus on Nokia's high-end Symbian smartphones as well as future mobile devices that run Meego, a Linux-based OS jointly developed by Intel and Nokia for netboooks, Internet-enabled televisions and in-car computing devices. This group, which also includes Nokia's Ovi services portfolio, will be led by Anssi Vanjoki.

Nokia's Mobile Phones group, which includes mid-range mobile devices known as feature phones, will also be getting new leadership.

Rick Simonson, former head of Nokia's Mobile Phones group, is leaving the company for "personal reasons" and wants to spend more time with his family, a Nokia spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. Mary McDowell will take over Simonson's role in the Mobile Phones group, which also features Ovi services.

Nokia's third newly established group, Markets, will be led by Niklas Savander and responsible for driving sales and marketing efforts, solution selling, and global supply chain, Nokia said Tuesday.

Nokia is still the top global handset maker but is rapidly falling behind in the smartphone space, where Android-based devices are starting to gain serious momentum, while the iPhone keeps chugging steadily along. Nokia built its business on feature phones but will need to transition to higher-end devices to keep pace.

"In addition to extending our leadership in mobile phones, we are decisively moving to respond faster to growth opportunities we expect in smartphones and mobile computers," Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia, said in a statement.