Motorola posts $26m Q2 profit, promises cheap Android thrills, does a little dance
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 31st 2009 8:44AM
posted Jul 31st 2009 8:44AM
See that image there on the right? Yeah, it's a pretty drastic departure from the Sad Moto™ face that had become all too common when talking about the company's financials. Just a quarter after posting a dreadful $291 million loss, the outfit responsible for creating the RAZR and then doing nothing for half a decade is finally showing a profit once more. The Q2 numbers show an "unexpected" $26 million profit on sales of $5.5 billion, $1.8 billion of which came from the handset division. Of course, that very division managed to lose $253 million and see its global market share slip to 5.5 percent, but with a big bang from Android reportedly just months away, CEO Sanjay Jha ain't taking time to frown. Just hours after the Verizon-branded Sholes smartphone surfaced, Mr. Jha was quoted as saying that two Android devices would be "in stores for the holiday season," with launches occurring on "two major carriers in North America and multiple carriers outside the US." He also noted that plans were in place to ship "several additional Android-based devices in the first quarter of 2010," but details beyond that were vague. So, is this the beginning of a new, happier Moto? Our aged copy of Photoshop certainly hopes so.
Read - Motorola's Q2 results
Read - Jha on future Android devices
Meh....
Meh? Wonderful contribution lol.
Good to see they are starting to turn things around for themselves. Finally seems as though they are starting to make the right moves again. Very interested to see what they develop for an Android set.
Wow, Meh you say. I never thought of it that way. Such insight and wisdom can't be disputed.
Anywho, when I see Motorola and profit in the same sentence I immediately think of the end of days. It can't be so! Yet there it is in black and white. So, excuse me while I hide form the four horsemen and congratulate the big M.
i for one am happy to see ANY company that was down on in the dumps make a profit during these times.
hello again moto =)
I guess I should be more excited, but its been so long since they've made anything good that they sort of went off my radar. Plus, considering how far down they were last quarter, up $26m isn't going to pull the bacon out of the fire. I suppose it is good to see a big company make some sort of come back though. Gives you hope for our economy.
The lottery was $50 million...
They should have just had all employees just going around buying all possible combinations... Would have been a better use of resources on Motorola's part...
AHAHAH!
Well at least the iPhone SMS scare will help them take their noses out of their shirts...
"AHAHAH!"
I would like for you to go to Motorola and try that with their employees. I'm sure the people whose jobs can now at least be safe for now really appreciate your juvenile behavior.
love the picture.
Aww. I'm so glad to see happy Moto face for once!
Woohoo to Moto being back in the game (hopefully). Competition sparks true innovation.
Good for Motorola. I hope we see a lot more of the smiley Moto face from now on.
Nokia posting $300mil profit = blood splattered phone.
Moto posting $26mil profit = smiley face.
Huh?
That's Engadget for ya...
It's all about expectations, bro. Beat 'em and you look good. Fail 'em and you look bad.
Don't worry, Darren. Engadget's resident Nokia fanboys really are terrible. They can't see sense.
says iloveapple
I hope Moto does become successful with Android, it would be good for both.
apparently the profit is not a sign of higher revenues/income/sales, but a result of cut backs such as layoffs and office/factory closings...
at least it's working now...
Go, Moto! Can't wait for their Android handsets.
where did they get the profit? from selling a division?
That is one hell of a razor thin margin
Verizon can have the Motorola and Sprints Pre leftovers while Sprint will have the Hero and Samsung Androids!
I bought shorts on Motorola on wednesday in hopes that they were going to post losses on Thursday. They have been steadily going down, their cash flow was horrible, and they were overvalued. Boy was my face red yesterday... WITH RAGE.
Now it's all clear to me.
I thought all of the "Moto Sad" news was only about the handset divisions' funds; not the whole company!
Well, at least they started making profit again.
We just got two more Moto cable boxes this month too.
I really hope Moto can pull itself together and get back in the game.
Their build quality and call quality are excellent, even if their phones are "design first".
Did Moto also make a little love... or get down tonight?
.
They've managed to shrink themselves down to a $20B company, from almost $40B when I worked there. It all started going south when they put Chris Galvin in charge--millions pissed away on boondoggles like Iridium. Late to the game on digital phones; late to realize the value of software in smart-phones...
5.5% market share and commodity Android handsets? Good luck with that.
.
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If you are going to blame Galvin for being late on digital phones are you also going to give him credit for RAZR?
And missing the value of software in smartphones had nothing to do with Galvin, that would be a Zander mistake.
All the talk of doom & gloom for Moto [over ?]
Refreshing to hear they've turned things
around in the financial end of things.
Very much looking foward to the querty
model shown yesterday.
Wait. What did Moto sell over Q2 to get a profit at all?