Juha Christensen, Microsoft Corp.'s corporate vice president of mobile devices in its marketing group, is leaving the company to join a startup company in the San Francisco Bay area, a Microsoft U.K. spokeswoman said Thursday
A replacement for Christensen has yet to be found, according to Microsoft U.K. Press Center Coordinator Rachael Collins.
It is unclear how Christensen's exit will affect the software maker's plans and strategy in the mobile phone market. Microsoft has set ambitious targets recently for its mobile business, aiming to sell 100 million PDAs (personal digital assistants) and smart phones running Windows software by 2007, it said earlier this week.
Before joining Microsoft in 2000, Christensen co-founded Symbian Ltd., a joint venture between Nokia Corp., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Motorola Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and Psion Inc., according to his biography on Microsoft's Web site.
Prior to starting Symbian, Christensen was vice president of licensing at Psion, Microsoft's site said.