RUMOR: MASSIVE EXECUTIVE SHAKE-UP AT NOKIA

German newspaper Wirtschaftswoche is reporting newly appointed Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is executing an executive shake-up. Citing "company sources," the paper stated that Mary T. McDowell, a bigwig in the mobile phones unit, as well as Niklas Savander, the manager of the markets unit, could be on the outs. Moreover, Kai Oistamo (Chief Development Officer) and Tero Ojanpera, the manager responsible for services and mobile solutions, may also be joining them in the unemployment line.

Nokia has reportedly hired headhunters to find replacements for those empty positions. It appears the organizational changes are focused on rectifying Nokia's inability to quickly execute upon its corporate strategy.

This shift comes after Nokia recently laid off 1,800 workers in October.

NOKIA SMARTPHONE MARKET SHARE PLUNGES TO 31%

Stephen Elop's first quarterly results as Nokia CEO have just come out, and while the company's still growing, others seem to be speeding ahead of it. Nokia's reporting its converged mobile devices (smartphones, to you and us) reached volumes of 28.3 million during Q4 2010, which is a neat bump from 20.8 million at the same time last year and 26.5 million in the previous quarter. However, in the context of the broader smartphone marketplace, that figure now amounts to only a 31 percent share, according to Nokia's own estimates, which is a major dip relative to its 40 percent slice in Q4 2009 and 38 percent in Q3 2010.