HTC has appointed Phil Blair as its new Head of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). He will be responsible for leading HTC's strategic growth across EMEA, and will also head up the UK arm of the business. Blair, previously Vice President of Product and Operations for HTC EMEA, replaces Florian Seiche. Adding some spice to the news is the revelation, according to Bloomberg, that Seiche is moving to Nokia, where he will become Head of European Sales on June 15th.  

Bloomberg also reported that Arto Nummela will take over Nokia’s India, Middle East and Africa operations, replacing Shiv Shivakumar at the end of June. Nummela is currently in charge of Nokia’s smart-phone business in the Americas, where he has overseen the launch of Nokia's Lumia product range.

Such changes are part and parcel of business life, but the departure of Seiche from HTC will surely raise some eyebrows. As a relatively long term HTC employee and senior figure he will have a deep understanding of both HTC's company philosophy and its operations. Such experience is hard to replace and is potentially valuable to a direct competitor. Moreover, there will inevitably be curiousity about the motivation for the move.

Here's a statement from HTC giving a little more detail on the appointment:

HTC, a global leader in smartphone innovation, has today announced the appointment of Phil Blair as its new Head of EMEA. Phil has been with the company since it launched in EMEA in 2005 and has worked closely with Florian Seiche as co-founder during that time to grow the business to where it is today.

Phil's depth of experience in the smartphone market, intrinsic understanding of mobile products and long-standing relationships with key industry partners put him in a strong position to create new opportunities for the business, taking HTC into its next phase of growth.