Nokia's VP of Product Marketing, Ilari Nurmi, has resigned from the company just as its new Lumia handsets are ready for launch.

Nokia’s Vice President of Product Marketing, Ilari Nurmi, has announced that he has left the company after 15-years of service. It’s a high-profile departure that comes just before one of the company’s most important product launches ever, and shortly after a marketing blunder that soured the announcement party for its new Windows Phone 8 Lumia handsets.

The news was broken by Reuters, and confirmed by Nurmi’s own Twitter account, where he said “I have left Nokia. I am thankful for almost 15 years there. I wish Nokia all the best and look forward to getting Lumia 920 once available.” A company man ‘till the last, then.

His departure from the company was relayed to Reuters in an email, in which “he did not make clear whether he left of his own accord,” and Nokia refused to comment on the reason Nurmi is no longer with them.

There are three ways of looking at this. The first is that it was his time to go, as before Nurmi worked on product marketing, he was vice president of Nokia’s Eseries line. Those with long memories will remember these were business-focused phones, and included successes such as the E71 and Nokia’s Communicator range. Before this, he was Director of Product Management for S60, Nokia’s user interface for the Symbian operating system.

With Eseries and Symbian both long gone, along with plenty of other alterations behind the scenes, Nokia today is probably very different to the Nokia Nurmi joined back in 1998.

Faked Lumia 920 video

However, if we don our conspiracy hat for a moment, there is a chance Nurmi resigned over the mishandling of the Lumia 920 teaser campaign, which brought suspicion and negative press down on the company at exactly the time it hoped for nothing by positive attention.

Specifically, we’re talking about the now infamous girl-on-a-bicycle footage, which was supposed to demonstrate the image stabilization abilities of Lumia 920’s PureView camera, but actually demonstrated the abilities of a professional camera securely mounted in a van.

ZDNet.com’s Zack Whittaker points the finger of blame at Nurmi, saying he “would have been ultimately responsible for the gaffe.”

Then there is the third possibility, which should be spoken only in hushed tones, which is that Nurmi didn’t relish the idea of trying to pull Nokia back from the brink, hopped into one of the nearest lifeboats, and sailed away. Whatever his reason for leaving is, it’s unlikely the truth will ever come out.

Nurmi has yet to talk about where he’s headed to next, and at the time of writing his Facebook and LinkedIn accounts still say he’s working for Nokia.

Dubai-based Emirates is now allowing passengers on its A380 planes to use their cell phones to make calls during flights.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about airlines finally giving the green light to passengers wishing to talk on their cell phones up in the air, though whether the majority of flyers are actually in favor of such a move isn’t certain. Being stuck beside someone on a long-haul flight jabbering away into the mouthpiece of their cell phone – as well into your ear – might, after all, be enough to make you want to go for a wing walk to escape the noise.

How passengers really feel, though, may be immaterial as it seems inevitable that a future of planes filled with cell phone owners bellowing into their handsets “I’m on the plane” is just around the corner.

Dubai-based carrier Emirates is leading the charge, allowing passengers on its double-decker A380 jets to use their phones to make calls from this week. The first call was reportedly made 11,500 meters (38,000 feet) up, to a location in China. The nature of the call isn’t known, though if it’s anything like the ones you hear on trains and buses, it won’t have been anything too important.

As an AllThingsD report on the development points out, Emirates is no slacker when it comes to offering passengers options regarding in-flight tech services. In the 1990s, on-board phones and fax machines were installed in its Airbus aircraft, while email and text messaging via in-seat facilities has been offered since 2006.

‘Pushing the boundaries’

In a statement about Emirates’ new service, the airline’s vice president, Patrick Brannelly, said, “Beginning in 1993 with first passenger satellite phone service to last year with our A380 Wi-Fi system, Emirates has always taken the approach that providing the latest in in-flight service and connectivity is a key part of our passengers’ journey”

He added, “Emirates continues to invest in the most innovative technology possible and promises to keep pushing the boundaries of in-flight innovation for the benefit of our passengers.”

Flyers in the US, or those traveling to and from the country, may or may not be pleased to know that a long-standing safety-related ban on the use of cell phones in aircraft imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) means the service will be blocked when the plane is flying over the US or within 250 miles of the country.

It was reported in August that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is planning to take another look at the restrictions placed on the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs) on planes in the US, though cell phones will not be included in the review.

[Image: Dimitriy Shironosov / Shutterstock]

Google is reportedly working with Samsung to develop a co-branded high-end Nexus tablet featuring a 10.1-inch screen, moving into an area of the tablet market dominated by Apple with its 9.7-inch iPad.

While Apple appear to be about to go small with its enormously popular 9.7-inch iPad device, a new report suggests Google is soon to go big with its 7-inch Nexus tablet.

According to a Cnet report, the Mountain View company is busy developing a 10.1-inch tablet with Korean electronics giant Samsung.

The information comes from Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, who said that supply chain activity indicated the new tablet was on its way, though a time frame for its launch wasn’t given.

Shim said the new tablet will have a screen density even higher than that of the third-generation iPad. Apple’s newest iPad has a 2048 x 1536 screen resolution (264 PPI), whereas Google’s offering will reportedly have a 2560 x 1600 display (299 PPI).

Google partnered with Taiwan-based Asus to produced its well-received 7-inch Nexus tablet, however, it appears that Samsung has been chosen to work on the larger device. The Korean company currently produces Google’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, released late last year.

Buoyed by the success of its Nexus 7 tablet, which launched in the US in July, Google appears to be looking to try its luck in the 10-inch tablet market, currently dominated by Apple with its iPad. And, according to Shim, the co-branded device won’t be a cheap alternative to the Cupertino company’s big seller, with the analyst describing it as a “high-end device.”

Apple, meanwhile, is expected to launch a smaller, 7.85-inch version of the iPad this month, with a price tag of between $300 and $350. The new tablet could well damage sales of Google’s cheaper Nexus 7 tablet, as well as the latest versions of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets. Whether a 10.1-inch co-branded tablet from Google and Samsung can tempt buyers away from Apple’s iPad is another question, and one we may be able to answer once more details of the device come to light.