Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple has poached a prominent member of Nokia's Lumia camera team.

Ari Partinen, who has worked as Nokia's "Lumia photography lead" since last July according to his LinkedIn page and who has been dubbed Nokia's "camera expert" by a company executive, is heading to Apple, he confirmed in a tweet Friday. Partinen said that Friday will be his "last day working for the amazing Lumia family," adding that his new gig at Apple will start in June.

Nokia has made great strides in photography with its PureView camera technology. Devices with PureView create startlingly crisp images and can offer up to 41 megapixels. Partinen, who has worked at Nokia for seven years, played a central role in making that happen.

Partinen didn't say on Twitter what he will be doing at Apple. But it seems obvious that Apple wants to tap his photo-tech expertise.

Microsoft completed its acquisition of Nokia's handset division in late April for more than $7 billion. The division is now known as Microsoft Mobile.

CNET has contacted Apple for comment. We will update this story when we have more information.

(Via Engadget)