Nokia's Board of Directors has appointed Stephen Elop President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia as of September 21. Elop currently heads Microsoft's Business Division. Before joining Microsoft, Elop held senior executive positions in a number of US-based public companies, including Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems Inc. and Macromedia Inc. He holds a degree in computer engineering and management from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, which is his home country.

Elop commented on his new Nokia position:

"I am extremely excited to become part of a team dedicated to strengthening Nokia's position as the undisputed leader of the mobile communications industry, with a relentless focus on meeting the needs and expectations of customers. Nokia has a unique global position as well as a great brand upon which we can build. The company has deeply talented and dedicated people, and I am confident that together we can continue to deliver innovative products that meet the needs of consumers. The Nokia slogan clearly states our key mission: Connecting People, which will acquire new dimensions as we build our portfolio of products, solutions and services."

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will leave his current position as President and CEO of Nokia on September 20, 2010 and his position on the Nokia Board of Directors with immediate effect. He will continue to chair the Board of Nokia Siemens Networks in a non-executive capacity.

Kallasvuo has been the target of criticism from investors for quite some time now. The markets have been displeased with Nokia's ability to compete with Apple's iPhone and, more recently, Android based smart-phones. It remains to be seen whether the change in leadership along with new phone models, such as the Nokia N8 will restore faith in the company.

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Panasonic has said today that they will be adding Netflix streaming to their 2010 Viera HDTVs and Blu-ray players.

Owners of said devices will have access to Netflix's "Watch Instantly" catalog, which includes over 15,000 movies and TV episodes.

To use Watch Instantly, you will need a Netflix subscription of at least $8.99 per month.

Panasonic says owners can use the USB connections on their TVs to add wireless keyboards, making the service more accessible.

The company currently offers Skype, Twitter, Pandora, Amazon VOD, YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg News and weather on their Viera Internet-enabled devices.

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According to a new report from asymco, Apple is now paying over $900 million per year to run the iTunes Store.

Apple now has to budget $75 million per month towards operational expenses, and the site says that number may actually be higher if book transactions are taken into account.

Asymco says the expenses are much higher than in 2009, where monthly expenses barely exceeded $30 million per month.

Apple currently has 160 million users on iTunes, along with 12 million songs and 250,000 apps.

The company has long said, however, that the iTunes store is break-even in regards to profit and that its main purpose is to drive Apple hardware, such as the iPhone and iPods.

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Best Buy has announced today that it will begin selling the popular Amazon Kindle in the coming months, bringing the e-reader to thousands of brick-and-mortar shops.

The company said all the e-readers it carries will be placed together so consumers can compare. Best Buy carries the B&N Nook and all three variations of Sony's Reader line.

Best Buy will carry the $140 Kindle Wi-Fi and the latest generation 3G/Wi-Fi model, which sells for $190. The Nook's rival players cost $150 and $200. Sony's players, on the other hand, range from $180 to $250.

Says the retailer (via IW): "Our goal is to help people choose the device that's right for them by providing the broadest selection of popular e-readers of any retailer, in one convenient place that enables people to easily see, touch, try and buy."

Additionally, Best Buy has said that later in the year they will begin selling the Amazon Kindle DX, with its large 9.7-inch display, for $290.

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According to the latest figures from market research firm NPD Group, U.S. videogame industry sales took a dive in August, falling 10 percent year-on-year (YoY).

Overall sales fell to $819 million USD, with software revenue collapsing 14 percent and hardware falling 5 percent.

Almost reaching the point of saturation, the Nintendo Wii saw its lowest sales since November 2006, falling 12 percent to just 244,300 units sold for the month.

The perennial hardware leader, the Nintendo DS line, fell 38 percent to 342,700 units sold. DS sales have now fallen in each month since April.

Dead-in-the-water handheld PSP sales dove 43 percent, with Sony selling just 79,400 units for the month.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 rose to the top, seeing 66 percent growth thanks to the release of their updated, slimmed down console. Microsoft sold 356,700 units for the month. The Sony PlayStation 3 saw 7.6 percent growth YoY, selling 226,000 units for the month.

Says Anita Frazier, senior analyst for NPD: "This month reflected the lowest sales for August since 2006. While all categories are down in both dollars and units, the portable portion of the industry is down to a greater extent."

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In a surprise about-face, Apple has loosened up on the restrictions in their App Store Review Guidelines, allowing for games and apps based on Adobe Flash technology to be submitted to the iPhone/iTouch/iPad App Store.

While the decision is certainly a move in the right direction, users of "i" devices will still not be able to view Flash videos while browsing the Web, however.

Reads the statement from Apple: "We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year."

"In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need."

Apple's newly launched "GameCenter" will likely now be flooded with Flash-based games, and Apple's mobile advertisers are likely very excited at the prospect of being able to use Flash, as well.

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Nintendo has updated the system firmware for the DSi handheld this week, blocking a number of flashcarts regularly used by gamers to run homebrew and pirated games.

The previous DSi firmware update, released a year ago, enhanced the built-in browser, added the ability to upload photos to Facebook and some subtle anti-piracy measures.

This week's update does not improve anything, as Nintendo says "This update provides behind-the-scenes improvements to system performance."

TinyCartridge says the firmware, version 1.4.1U blocks the following carts: Acekard 2i, DSTTi, iPlayer, M3i Zero and the Supercard DSTwo.

Additionally, GBAtemp is reporting that Nintendo is prepping firmware 1.4.2C, which will block any remaining carts, such as the EZ-Flash Vi, iSmart DS and Hyper R4i.

Gamers can continue to run their homebrew and games as long as they choose to lose access to the Internet until the cart makers update their respective firmwares, as well.

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