This estate has been settled to the millimeter

Change in continuity at the head of Nokia with, today, taking official function of the new pattern of the world's leading manufacturer of mobile phones. Aged 53, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will succeed to Jorma Ollila, the iconic President and CEO of the Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer. This estate has been settled to the millimeter. Jorma Ollila (55 years) announced last summer that it loses the operational lead on June 1, 2006 to retain only the non-executive chair of the Board of Directors. As usual in the group, it is internally that has found his successor. The choice of Olli - Pekka Kallasvuo, one of the faithful of the CEO, has surprised person. Entered the House in 1980, he has in turn been financial Director, patron of the American subsidiary, then in charge of any mobile phones. Either a route identical to that of its predecessor!

Leading manufacturer of mobile

Nokia turns as one of the most beautiful pages of its history, that of the transformation of a conglomerate in full rout in the mobile phone world champion. When he takes the reins in 1992, Jorma Ollila, an old economist then forty-one years, adopts a policy diametrically opposed to that of his predecessors: finished the diversification in televisions, computers, paper, chemistry... Cap on growth internal, on the single telecoms segment!

Success in this area takes in three letters: GSM. Finnish is the first mobile manufacturers to believe in the future of this new European digital standard. Worn by a domestic market that is passionate about the mobile phone, it is also the first to believe that this product will be a public day. Result, he became the first manufacturer of mobile in the world in 1998, ahead of the American Motorola, where he will relinquish. Last year, it has sold 265 million phones, is taking 32 of the world market.

If the CEO embodies to him only this success, he left many challenges to his successor. After a decade of extraordinary expansion, Nokia shows signs of weakness, since a few years. Seeing its share of market threatened by the arrival of new Asian competitors (the Samsung Korean in mind), Finnish began everything in the direction of the emerging countries, with the extraordinary Chinese and Indian markets in sights. This strategy is successful because it now sells the majority of its mobile from developed countries. But at what price! If the Group sells more mobile, it is always less expensive. More 180 euros per aircraft early 2000, the price fell to 99 euros in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Focus on design

Because, at the same time, Nokia is left behind in the mobile medium and high-end. While the design has become an essential element, the Motorola, Samsung and other LG Electronics have better anticipated the latest trends in the market. Late in 2004 on clamshell phones (so-called "clamshell"), the Group has not felt the craze for the bezels mobile, "lacking still significantly in its portfolio", recognizes Martin Garner, analyst at Ovum. The Finnish, just replace the Director of his team of designers, "must be more focused on marketing, design and the mark," acknowledged the week last Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who is already set for mission Nokia "mark the most loved and most admired in the world, all industrial sectors".