Qualcomm COO Dr. Sanjay Jha, is leaving to become co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices.
Jha, who was educated in the UK with a first degree at Liverpool University and a PhD from Strathclyde University, was Qualcomm's star executive. "I look forward to close cooperation with Qualcomm in the future", he said, after the announcement of his departure.
Len Lauer, executive vice president of Qualcomm and group president, is promoted to chief operating officer and Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, is promoted to president of QCT. In addition, Jim Lederer was recently promoted to executive vice president of business planning and finance for QCT.
Taking over a boss of Motorola's handset division is to take on the hottest job in the mobile industry. Two years ago Motorola had 24 per cent market share in the handset industry, now it has less than ten per cent.
Motorola is still No.3 in the industry after Nokia and Samsung, but is only just ahead of No.4 player LG. It needs another hit like its stunningly successful RAZR.
18 months ago, Motorola said it would spin off its mobile phone division into a separate company. Jha has clearly been recruited to accomplish this move which was planned to happen this year.
However, as the division is currently loss-making, the timing of the spin-off is still problematical.
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