Marketing chief Hoornik has left Sony Ericsson

Steve Walker steps in as acting head

Not sure why this hasn’t had more of an airing in the mobile press – but it’s surely worth noting that Marketing had the story this week that Sony Ericsson’s global marketing chief Lennard Hoornik had left the company.

I put a call in to Sony Ericsson and a spokesman re-confirmed that Hoornik left this week to “pursue other career oportunities”. He added that Steve Walker, currently head of portfolio planning, will step up as acting head of marketing until the company recruits a direct replacement for Hoornik.

Unless my Google News search skills are even more limited than I thought, this hasn’t been picked up much across the mobile media. So without adding much to Marketing’s story (apart from the Walker snippet) I bring it to your attention here.

Seems to me it’s a reasonably significant bit of news. Sony Ericsson just turned in a decent third quarter, turning a profit, and has seen ASPs rise this year as smartphones now form more than 50% of its overall sales.

If this had been Nokia’s marketing chief quitting (and yes, I know Nokia has just appointed a new CMO) don’t you think you’d have heard rather more about it?

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