Ever since Steve Ballmer announced his retirement as Microsoft’s CEO last week, the internet has been abuzz with rumors, speculation, and assumptions at just who will fill the long-time Microsoft executive’s shoes.
One of these people reportedly on the short list to replace Ballmer according is Nokia‘s own Stephen Elop, who used to work at Microsoft as a senior executive up to September 2010, and before that served as an executive at Juniper Networks and Adobe Systems.
So would the Finnish smartphone and feature phone maker responsible for the Lumia and Asha lines be a good candidate? It’s hard to say at this point. It’s no secret that Nokia has been experiencing a positive turnaround in recent months, but the case can also be made that Nokia’s decision to so quickly abandon its own OS endeavors in favor of Windows Phone rather than a gradual transition was a reckless move. It will be interesting to see how this little drama plays out.
Of course, Elop isn’t the only person on the Ballmer replacement list. Skype manager Tony Bates is another candidate after the restructure looked to change his role in July, as is (gasp!) Bill Gates, though this is said to be very unlikely.
So, it’s still not known who exactly will replace Ballmer. And should Elop win the position, then, who will replace him at Nokia? The future of Skype and indeed Microsoft in general isn’t grim by any means, but it’s something of a mystery at this point.