The head of Nokia’s newly restructured Mobile Solutions unit wrote an impassioned letter Friday declaring his intent to return the Finnish vendor to its former glory. Anssi Vanjoki started his new job last Thursday (managing Nokia’s high-end mobile computer and smartphone portfolio, as well as its services store Ovi) and within 24 hours had posted a blog entitled ‘The fightback starts now.’ Vanjoki wrote: “I am committed, perhaps even obsessed, with getting Nokia back to being number one in high-end devices. Achieving this will require performance and efforts over and above the norm. This is a role I’ve personally been preparing for over the last 20 years. We have all the assets — including R&D and product development – at our disposal under one roof – to produce killer smartphones and market-changing mobile computers.” The new boss said that over the coming months Nokia will be advancing current projects and working to simplify the way it works “in order to deliver products and services faster, and with a laser focus on quality.” Key to this strategy will be its Symbian and MeeGo platforms, with Symbian being its “platform of choice for Nokia smartphones” and MeeGo powering the pocket computers of the future. “MeeGo offers us an opportunity to take mobile technology beyond the smartphone, and into a new world of connected devices. As Symbian gears up to compete with the likes of iPhone and Android, MeeGo is taking clear aim at the computing space.” Vanjoki added: “Together, Symbian and MeeGo will form the backbone of our Mobile Solutions unit. This unit contains all the assets it requires to develop and deliver inspiring and game-changing products.” Nokia’s first Symbian^3 phone – the N8 – will be available over the coming months, and Vanjoki claims it is “going to surprise a lot of people with its power and speeds.” A future Symbian^4 Nseries device “is a very strong possibility.” Nokia also plans to deliver its first MeeGo device this year. Meanwhile Vanjoki reiterated the company has no plans to introduce an Android device.

Nokia remains the world’s largest mobile device vendor, but its fortunes have taken a turn for the worse in the past twelve months. It has failed to produce a flagship smartphone to rival the iPhone or the many successful Android devices, and its financial performance has deteriorated in recent quarters. Meanwhile its move into Internet services, via its Ovi store and offerings such as Comes With Music, has failed to ignite the market. “There is no denying, that as a challenger now, we have a fight on our hands” concluded Vanjoki. “The first battle is to bring you products and services you will want to own and use, to inspire you to create and do new things in this ever changing digital world. I’m ready to take this challenge on, and so is the entire Nokia team.”