In an industry wracked with consolidation and tough economic realities, Ericsson's been an unusually steady force -- probably thanks to the fact that it's a giant in wireless infrastructure -- so we're pretty confident in saying that the departure of CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg to become head honcho over at BP isn't an indication that there's trouble brewing in the ranks. That's especially true considering that Svanberg will stay on as CEO until the end of the year and will remain on Ericsson's board beyond that. Replacing him will be up-and-comer Hans Vestberg, who currently serves as CFO -- so it's not that big of a move, and apparently one that's been expected among Ericsson's watchers for some time. How this'll ultimately affect the dynamic between Ericsson and fellow joint-venture parent Sony is unclear, but if this means we can get a PSP phone faster, we're totally behind ya, Hans.

[Via mocoNews]

The last time we heard from Ivan Seidenberg, he was letting Sprint know precisely what he thought of it. This go 'round, in a new 'Charlie Rose' interview, the Verizon chief is being entirely more coy. In speaking to recent political happenings, he mentions that the communication coming from the citizens of Iran is "a great thing," and he also notes that attempts to block internet use "can't work long term" as the "power of the people will override that without any question." Sort of comical given VZW's prior persistence to cripple phones in spite of consumer backlash, but we digress. He also dodged (with great skill, might we add) questions on whether Verizon Wireless would carry the iPhone, noting that it was "Apple's decision" on whether it would build one to support the company's forthcoming LTE network. As for Android? He did confess that recent reports of a Motorola handset coming its way "might be true," which is CEO speak for "oh, that's absolutely happening." Hop on past the break for a video of the whole shakedown.

If there's one two things we love, it's hearing RIM's own Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis open their gaping traps. While the former was sufficiently panned back in January for exclaiming that buggy smartphone software was simply the "new reality," his partner in crime may have just done him one better. In a recent sit-down with Laptop Mag, Mike was specifically asked to address that aforementioned quote. His response? "That's our first touch product, and you know nobody gets it perfect out the door. You know other companies were having problems with their first releases." If you're struggling to translate that into layman speak, allow us: "Tough luck, early adopters!"

As the interview progressed, the co-CEO took the opportunity to snub Apple on its inability to get Push Email out early on, noting that BlackBerry OS has "constantly been underestimated" and was "designed to multitask from day one." He also stumbled all over himself when it came to speaking about the BlackBerry's web browser, stating that "by writing our browser in Java, that provides our CIOs and wireless managers the assurances they need, to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information." We've literally meditated on that for a solid half-hour, and we still have absolutely zero idea what it means in English. Nevertheless, the whole thing is a pretty great -- if not comical -- read, so give it a look and share your colorful opinions in comments below.

It's not terribly often that Canada's Rogers Communications names a new chief exec -- hell, the last one was none other than the company's founder himself -- so needless to say, it's a pretty big deal that the company has concluded its search and sealed the deal. As expected, Nadir Mohamed, who already has plenty of executive-level experience within the company serving as president and COO of its Communications Division, has been named to the CEO post, concluding a search both outside and inside the wireless giant for Ted Rogers' successor. Congrats, Nadir -- you've got big shoes to fill. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via MobileSyrup]

The Globe and Mail is reporting that Rogers is getting lined up to finally announce a new Chief Executive -- a rather important position at the company that's been left vacated since founder Ted Rogers passed away several months ago. Sounds like the lucky dude will be Nadir Mohamed, who's currently serving as president and COO of the company's Communications Group. Of course, no change of power would be complete without some behind-the-scenes drama, and in this case, it appears that there's at least some risk of a power struggle between Mohamed and Rogers' son Edward, so in an effort to nip that in the bud, it's rumored that Rogers will be given some sort of executive role at the company -- possibly in charge of acquisitions. Looks like this'll all be made public any day now, so we don't have long to wait. Anyone hoping this guy ushers in some change?

[Via mocoNews]

Great job, thief. Just days after Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo had his HTC handset stolen at Mobile World Congress, the guy has decided that enough is enough. All kidding aside, Sol Trujillo has indeed announced his intentions to vacate his seat and return home to the United States. During his four years as head honcho, the Australian operator has managed to do quite well for itself, and as they say, there's no better time to leave than while on top. He has vowed to keep pressing on until June 30th, after which he'll hop a (presumably first class) flight back to the US of A and watch Telstra attempt to fill his shoes -- probably from a sweet shack in Key West, if we had to guess.

Edward Samuel "Ted" Rogers, the founder of Rogers Communications, has passed away this week at 75. It only takes a brief glance to recognize what a giant Mr. Rogers built, and his legacy will obviously live on for years to come. Ted had suffered from congestive heart failure and was seeing his health decline, but thankfully he was surrounded by friends and family when he passed in his Toronto home. As for now, Alan Horn, Chairman of Rogers Communications, will serve as CEO and president until the Board of Directors can complete a thorough search for a proper successor.

[Via Boy Genius Report, image courtesy of TheStar]

Well, would you have a gander at this spectacle. Some "Dan" character over at Peek has gone and stolen our thunder, completely dashing our hopes of hosting up a "How would you change" article on the outfit's e-mail only handheld. All (nonexistent) personal beef aside, we'd wager that this scenario is actually far more beneficial for end users, particularly since you know the company is all ears. Over at the Peek blog, the outfit pleads with users and spectators to chime in on how the handheld could be tweaked (in "minor" ways, mind you) in order to be superior. Additionally, it's looking to open up a set of APIs for the public in order to facilitate the hacking of Peek for its own betterment. We always said this thing would be way more appealing with Opera Mini loaded on there alongside a VoIP application, and lookie here, the price has stooped to $80 with no contracts attached. Consider our interest finally piqued. Ugh, that was awful.

[Thanks, Jacob]

Look, Dan Hesse is an intelligent individual, which means he knew good and well that he'd start a flame war when making one particular comment to the National Press Club in Washington. The CEO of Sprint casually proclaimed that he didn't feel Android (in its current form) was "good enough to put the Sprint brand on." In all fairness, Sprint has shown a friendly side to Google in the past, and he did promise to sell an Android-powered phone "at some time in the future," but asserting that Sprint is in the position to shy away from what's arguably the most exciting thing to happen to the mobile realm since the advent of the iPhone is, um, questionable at best.

[Via Android Authority]

Sanjay Jha has a fairly daunting task ahead of him, but the new co-CEO is already vowing to stomp his foot down and make some changes for the better within three months. While speaking to an audience of analysts and media, the new Motorola exec stated that he would be reviewing the firm's device platforms / product roadmap within 90 days, and he's also planning to make "hires in areas where he doesn't have experience." Thankfully, that latter tidbit includes hires in product design, which -- judging by the looks of its Alexander -- really needs some fresh brains to step in. Of course, we wouldn't expect a new bigwig to say anything other than this, so the real test comes in T-minus eighty-some-odd days when we see how he delivers. The clock's ticking, Mr. Jha.

Motorola announced today that it would be appointing Qualcomm's former COO Sanjay Jha to head up its ailing handset division -- much to the chagrin of our own Ryan Block. Jha will also take on co-executive duties for the parent company along with current CEO Greg Brown. The news comes hot on the heels of speculation that the electronics-maker will spin off its mobile phone wing as a separate, publicly traded entity, though chatter persists that an outright sale of the division may be more economically advisable at this stage. So here's the question that begs asking: why has Moto gone the co-CEO route? Whether it's a matter of the board's confidence in Brown's abilities, or a by-product of some unseen moves, it comes off as unusual at best.

Shortly after Alcatel-Lucent posted yet another quarter of net losses, two of its biggest bigwigs have decided that enough is enough. Chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO Patricia Russo have both announced plans to exit the company, and while the former will be clocking in for the final time on October 1st, the latter has agreed to stay on until a new CEO is found. According to Tchuruk, the time has come for the outfit to "acquire a personality of its own, independent from its two predecessors." The search for replacements has already begun, though analysts assert that filling the holes won't be a lesson in simplicity. Something Motorola would likely agree with entirely.

[Via RCRWireless, image courtesy of The New York Times]

Read - Announcement of resignations
Read - Search for replacements

If you've been scouring the dictionary for sour grapes, chances are you'll find Ivan Seidenberg's picture. Verizon Communications' chairman and chief executive recently sat down for an interview with Financial Times, and while he spent the vast majority of his time boasting of just how amazing Verizon is, he did stop to remark about Cupertino ever so briefly. Granted, he did start off by admitting that Apple was a "great company," but that didn't stop him from pillorying the iPhone as well as Dear Leader himself. He actually accused the interviewer of "declaring [Apple] a winner before it had earned it on the field," suggesting that the iPhone wouldn't become a mass-market handset simply because the next iteration will be subsidized. He also stated that "Mr. Jobs had no monopoly on innovation," and took the conversation even further off track by blurting that "Steve Jobs eventually will get old." At least Keystone knows where to find its next bitter beer face, right?

[Via The Inquirer, image courtesy of Pace, thanks Frank]

We won't say that Motorola's on the up and up, but just after ridding itself of that pending litigation between it and Carl Icahn comes word that a fresh face will be succeeding Ed Zander as non-executive Chairman of the Board. David Dorman, former chairman and CEO of AT&T, has been selected by Moto's Board of Directors to take over Zander's chairman seat after he retires on May 5th. According to Greg Brown, president and CEO of the company, he feels that Dorman is "ideally suited to serve as Motorola's chairman," and he made known his excitement about working with Dave as it "moves forward with its plan to create two independent publicly traded companies and improve the performance of the Mobile Devices business." Good luck in there, Mr. Dorman.

[Image courtesy of USA Today]

Using Time Magazine's Inventions of 2007 list as its basis, a poll of 590 CEOs in South Korea has named the iPhone the most inspirational invention of last year -- a finding echoed by Time's own Invention Of the Year award. The best part? The poll was conducted by the Samsung Economic Research Institute, which is affiliated with -- you guessed it -- Samsung. Go figure.