Qualcomm hires ex-Nokia and HMD Global executive Juho Sarvikas

Nokia's new face after the fall of its smartphone business, Juho Sarvikas announced last month his exit from HMD Global, the Finnish company that licensed the right to manufacture and sell Nokia phones.

It was a sudden and surprising decision that few probably expected since HMD Global's phone business seems to be flourishing. It's true that the company still lacks a solid flagship lineup, but that probably isn't the reason why Juho Sarvikas decided to leave HMD Global.

Long story short, it looks like, after 15 years working for Nokia and HMD Global, Juho Sarvikas will be joining Qualcomm in a key position. Jim Cathey, SVP and President of Qualcomm's global operations confirmed earlier this week that Juho Sarvikas will become the company's VP and President for its North America business.

For more than a decade, Juho Sarvikas was directly involved in the engineering and design of most of Nokia's smartphones. It remains to be seen how Qualcomm will use Sarvikas' expertise in managing consumer products, but this certainly seems to be an important step in his career.