Report: Nokia CEO Elop's Clock is Ticking on WP Gamble

Nokia's chief executive Steven Elop could soon face overwhelming criticism that could threaten his position.

Following the launch of the Lumia 920 smartphone, there are now reports that Elop is running out of time and that he may only have a few months left to turn the company around. A Reuters article, which refers to information from "investors and analysts", states that Elop will have to show positive results in the first half of 2013.

The agency quoted Greenwich analyst Magnus Rehle saying that "Elop has not been able to attract customers and that is what counts. You can say that he has not had enough time, but he has been there for two years. Time is up."

It is reasonable to assume that analysts will be calling into question Elop's one-horse strategy to run with Windows Phone if Nokia cannot benefit from the Christmas season. Juha Varis, analyst with Danske Invest Finnish Equity Fund said that a possible move toward Android would mean that the Windows Phone strategy failed. At this point, he would have to step down, since "he's totally a Microsoft guy."

Such an event would also be a major blow to Microsoft, which reportedly has invested more than a billion dollars into its partnership with Nokia.

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