Nokia may be the No. 1 cell phone maker in the world but it’s not the top dog in the United States, prompting the Finnish giant’s incoming chief executive on Friday to declare strengthening the company’s position in the market a key goal.

“That is a priority area and it is well-reflected in the way I spend my time,” Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the company’s president and next chief executive, said in an interview published on Finnish business magazine Talouselämä‘s web site.

Nokia has been struggling in North America in recent years as Motorola, No. 1 in the U.S. market, has gained market share with help from RAZR, its popular ultra-thin phone. Nokia largely ignored the clam-shell craze and has failed to produce a recent model that has scored big with U.S. consumers.

Worldwide, it’s a different story. Nokia’s market share was 34 percent in the fourth quarter, the company said.

But in the U.S. and Canada, market share at its worst has fallen below 20 percent. But for Mr. Kallasvuo, there are some encouraging signs. The number of phones Nokia sold in North America rocketed 69 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter.

“Being above 20 percent market share is a good first step,” current Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila said in January. “Next is establishing ourselves as the strong contender for the No. 1 position.”

Nokia, as well as other manufacturers, has learned the U.S. market is different from the rest of the world. In the U.S., wireless carriers play a more important role in determining which models will be available in stores.

“If the model is not going to an operator’s channel, you are not going to see any good volumes,” said Tuong Nguyen, research analyst at Gartner. About 60 percent of phones in North America are sold by operators.

More Acquisitions Seen

According to Mr. Kallasvuo, Nokia will continue with its recent strategy of making acquisitions and partnerships as they have become more important in a more competitive world.

“Nokia has to consider acquisitions and cooperation scenarios pragmatically also in the future,” he said.

In the past, Nokia was more conservative in buying other companies. But it seems to have stepped up the pace, purchasing U.S. wireless messaging and email company Intellisync in November (see Nokia’s BlackBerry Challenger).

Last week, Nokia said it had agreed to form a joint venture with Japan's Sanyo to develop CDMA phones, a surprising move as the company had long tried to develop the technology in-house. The deal reflects the fact that Nokia on its own has not been able to challenge Qualcomm, the market leader in CDMA, a widely used mobile technology in the U.S. and South Korea.

Sanyo has close ties with Sprint Nextel, the No. 2 CDMA operator in the U.S., and Nokia may be able to leverage this, Mr. Nguyen said.

Pressure on New CEO

Mr. Kallasvuo said in the interview that the company's Multimedia and Enterprise Solutions units are investing heavily in innovative products.

“In mobile phone operations, we aim for leadership in everything,” he said. “If you aren't the leader in each sector and segment, you will easily lose out. You cannot be strong in one area and just take part in another.”

Mr. Kallasvuo, who is also Nokia’s chief operating officer, will become the company’s chief executive June 1 when Mr. Ollila, the longtime chief executive and chairman, will take the role of nonexecutive chairman. Mr. Kallasvuo, who joined the company in 1982, was previously responsible for the mobile phones division and served before that as the chief financial officer.

In Finland, Mr. Kallasvuo has been under scrutiny after news he was involved in a minor tax fraud case for importing shoes and items without paying customs, before he was named chief executive officer. When releasing annual results in January, Mr. Ollila had to assure shareholders and the public that Mr. Kallasvuo had the full backing of the board.

Mr. Kallasvuo’s interview represented his first public remarks since the tax flap came to light earlier this year in Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily newspaper.

"I just can say that it was a mistake and I am very sorry for that," Mr. Kallasvuo said in the full interview publised in Talouselämä´s printed version. "It is a fact I must live with. All this fuss has been hard to me but I just must face it  with a humble manner."