With the mobile industry potentially entering one of its biggest growth periods in history, this one took us as a bit of a surprise: Len Lauer, who announced his resignation as Qualcomm’s COO late last year, has landed at Memjet, a color-printing technology company. Lauer will serve as CEO, and will also be on the company’s board. Release.

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Given Lauer’s pedigree, which included a stint at Sprint (NYSE: S) and then Sprint Nextel following the merger, it seemed he could have been on a trajectory to work at Verizon next, where there will likely be changes as executives retire in the next few years. The only two things Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) and Memjet seem to have in common is that they are both based in San Diego. Lauer said in a release: “This is clearly an opportune time to join Memjet. The company is on the threshold of commercializing its first generation of breakthrough printing components with a strong technology roadmap and funding to drive its future…I’m excited to lead Memjet into a new phase of commercialization and growth.”