Analyst: Motorola may exit handset business
By Thomas Ricker 
posted January 29th 2008 6:32AM
posted January 29th 2008 6:32AM
Hey, that's what Nomura International analyst, Richard Windsor, told his clients in a note published this morning. Instead of handsets, Moto may choose to refocus on becoming an "enterprise and government company." While on a roll, Richard also raised speculation that a Chinese company might scoop up the troubled Moto before calling it "unlikely as those vendors don't have much of an idea how to fix Motorola's problems." Problems he attributes to the platform and software, not hardware. Man Moto, what a long hard fall it's been since your 2005 RAZR heyday.
It's been a long, hard fall, indeed! Motorola has been nothing but tales of delayed product launches, broken hardware and ridiculously slow software. The phones that had potential to be true innovators (remember the V600?) either took years to launch or suffered from a monumental lack of creativity (RAZR2? What kind of stupid name is that?) that in the end, leads to returned handsets, falling sales and failed expectations. So long, former king of the airwaves... And I hate to say it, but good riddance.
For those of us concerned about the larger questions in the US - technology companies that aren't US based - this is a really bad thing.
Once we start to exit the market (IBM w/ PCs, Motorola rumor) we won't have the one thing we used to have: R&D and US based companies (even if most the work was done somewhere else).
Not just bad for the US but global marketplace. We're hogs, but but we've been keeping a global economy going for some time now. A shift will hurt everyone in the short (& possibly long) term.
You forget that Motorola is a worldwide leader in network devices (Wimax and Wifi), communications equipment (CB Radios), and with their recent aquisition of Symbol technologies, also the worldwide leader in barcode scanners and mobile computers (which have ridiculous margins). Half of Motorolas Q4 profits came from the Symbol aquisition alone.
And while getting out of the cell phone market (where margins are nothing) would be a good idea - it isn't going to happen. Not anytime soon at least, much to many a iphone fanboys demise.
It would be stupid to stop in really fast growing business Nokia had alone $22.9 billion revenues from last year.
Although they definitely don't make the best phones in the world, I could not see them getting out of the business entirely. There phones with the radio function are almost a necessity in the richer parts of Mexico, maybe they will exit some developed markets but there is opportunity for them in developing countries.
I'd make a Sega reference here, but that would imply I thought Motos were top-notch, honorable phones.
You guys, they invented the cell phone right? Why leave when they made their business? LOL The picture
While the RAZR was stylish, it was not a great phone. I could never read my screen outdoors because of all the dust that got under the screen (screen seals failed to keep out dust.) Moto has one of the worst phone number/contacts organization methods I've ever seen on the phone UI. Why do I need to scroll past multiple phone numbers for the same person to get to the next person on my phonelist!!! Why can't numbers be grouped by person with a preferred default contact number for that person like on a Nokia or Samsung! Lame!
I don't believe that. Motorola isn't just going to drop the handset business. That's bull****
It IS the software, stupid. You can't have sleek and sexy Moto phone that are absolute garbage once you turn them on and try to navigate them.
It's the same thing when all the carriers are carrying "touchscreen" phones. Interaction is super sluggish and no multi touch!
How much time and attention went into the iPhone's software? It's like day and night compared to Moto's phones.
Motorola always goes from boom to bust with their phones. Between the successes of MicroTac, StartTac, and Razr, there have always been problem years. They can't seem to keep the momentum going after one successful product.
I agree, Moto should go to Linux, that runs a open Android, with a all screen platform with no moving parts and the biggest and fastest processor they can jam in, make it unlocked and be a world phone with all the Wi-Fi connectivity that we will need in the future, when hot spots are more than just spots.
Oh... I guess that would be a iPhone the way it should have been.
:)
I cant agree... Moto have released a great phone... The RAZR2, E8, U9 has a large 500mhz processor that will definitely wipe their competitors... Also the Z6 with 624mhz, that almost twice bigger than the competitors... The lack is the UI that not much optimized, but we can hack it...
The ROKR E2 is the best phones i ever use, especially when i can optimize it myself...
I dont believe Motorola will leave handset markets... They still leader in technology and inovation, the E398, RAZR, ROKR, even the latest E8 have prooved it! The first thinnest phone, music phones with 3,5mm jack, the new and new design... The worse thing is they always late, even if their announce the inovation first, the competitors will launch the copy first... :( They wont leave, they still the best...
Bring back the StarTac. That will turn things around.
Motorola needs to restructure its management system from top to bottom if it really wants to turn itself around.
True. Our problem is the management and strategy - not only business and product, but also technology and platform.
We have so-called Motorola Fellows, who flip-flopped our software and platform strategies 3 times in past 5 years - quit Symbian, pick up Java, then Linux. All were screwed up. Big jokes.
They may have great platform architecture, excellent diagram, fancy powerpoint slides, and soundable scientific theory (to those non-technical). There is only one problem - the Java and the Linux platform his team built just did not work. Too slow, and too many "panic". Their justification is "we don't have the requirement of not being panic".
The UI framework Faultline is also full of scientific theory, has all paper benefits but not working - performance is too slow.
Eric is expecting Motorola to have Linux-based handsets soon - but just to be patient for another 5 years for the bet of Moores Law, and may be never.
If those VPs and Fellows are still holding the key positions of business and technology decision - Motorola's handset business is hopeless.
Hello Moto?