The Thursday AllThingsD conference saw some surprising appreciation coming the Apple iPhone way from none other than the Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo!

Commending the iPhone’s outstanding contribution to the telecom industry on the whole, Kallasvuo said that the singular Apple product set the ball rolling for the distinctive use of the use mobile devices, making them emerge more like computers, with an exceptionally wide array of software and services packaged with them.

Noting that the telecom industry is at an “inflection point,” Kallasvuo mentioned Nokia’s apparent drift in the direction of solutions, from its core business pertaining to hardware, underlining the company’s investments in software and services.

Acknowledging that there is competition galore, Kallsvuo said that some years back competition for Nokia chiefly meant Motorola; while now it includes rivals, like Samsung, LG, Apple, Microsoft, RIM, and Google.

With reference to the recent launch of Nokia’s Ovi Store, Kallasvuo said that the store has a lot catching up to do in terms of offering some concrete competition to Apple’s AppStore. Nonetheless, he feels Nokia a good chance in the arena, owing to its solutions approach.

Saying that Nokia holds nearly 40 percent of the global mobile phone market, Kallasvuo granted the iPhone its due adding: “No doubt the iPhone was a wake-up call for us. But innovation will not stop here.”