NOKIA CEO STEPHEN ELOP IN KENYA NEXT WEEK

Nokia global head Stephen Elop will be in the country next week in what will be a first. No CEO of the Finnish giant has been here before. This comes at a time when the handset vendor has downgraded its regional hub in Nairobi into a sales office moving other responsibilities to Jo'Burg.

It also comes at a time when at the top of the food chain, Samsung is increasingly asserting its dominance with the Galaxy line and rivals like Sony Ericsson and Research In Motion also seeking to increase their share of the pie. The iPhone 4S is also on sale through Orange although we are yet to see how they handle marketing for this latest iteration.

Nokia regional head Ken Oyolla who had announced his resignation before being made the global head of activations will no doubt welcome the opportunity to host Elop. Oyolla has been regional sales manager for Nokia before and together with Samsung's Amit Patel (formerly of Motorola) know the market trends as well as anyone in the business.

Elop used to be an executive with Microsoft and has steered Nokia toward Windows Mobile as it belatedly abandons Symbian.