SAN FRANCISCO, 3:51 PM, SUN MAY 11 | 0 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@valleywag.com | SUBMIT A TIP | RSS
Posts Tagged “

Motorola

”
Motorola market share drops to single digits Motorola first quarter revenue fell 21 percent to $7.45 billion as the company's share of the global handset market fell to 9.5 percent. [WSJ]

Comment

100-word version

Former Motorola insider slams company's incompetence, reapplies for employment

In what amounts to a public job application to Motorola CEO Greg Brown, Numair Faraz, former assistant to Razr creator Geoffrey Frost, slams the company and former CEO Ed Zander for astounding ineptitude. Catch the full story over at Gizmodo or see our 100-word version below.
After making repeated attempts to contact you via your office, I am forced to write this open letter to publicly air my grievances concerning Motorola.
Faraz continues: More »

3:00 PM on Thu Mar 27 2008
By Jordan Golson
884 views, 6 comments

wireless

Why it's splitsville for Motorola

Motorola, mortally wounded, is spinning off its handset business in slow motion. CEO Greg Brown expects the deal to go through next year. There's no Razr on the horizon to spur sales, thanks to former CEO Ed Zander's overreliance on the model. In San Francisco cofeeshops, the popular theory is that Apple's iPhone killed Motorola. Nonsense. Motorola killed Motorola. The population of the Bay Area is 7.2 million; despite the appearance that every man, woman, and child here now has an iPhone, Apple will be lucky to have sold that many by now. More »

10:00 AM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By Owen Thomas
469 views, 3 comments

Latest by matto: if Jason Calcanis ran Motorola's mobile phone division, the RAZR would have no power-off button! more »

motorola

If at first you don't succeed, sue

Investor Carl Icahn has sued Motorola to force the company to release internal documents about its cell-phone handset business. Icahn is pursuing a proxy fight to install new directors on Motorola's board and force the company to spin off or sell its handset business. Motorola calls the lawsuit a "distraction." [FT]

1:20 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
By Jordan Golson
170 views, 1 comment

Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) filed suit against Motorola on February 16, claiming Motorola overcharges for licenses to use its patented technology. RIM calls these technologies "industry standards" unworthy of patent protection. Motorola disagrees and filed its own patent-infringement suit against RIM. [WSJ]

Comment

hires

Motorola chief takes charge of phone unit

CEO Greg Brown is taking personal charge of the company's troubled cell-phone business. One wonders where he got that idea. Next thing we know, Motorola's board will be basing his pay on the number of cell phones he sells. Oh, what's that — they already do?

1:00 PM on Tue Feb 5 2008
By Owen Thomas
171 views, 4 comments

wireless

A less wireless Motorola?

What's Motorola minus the cell phones? One might as well speak of Ford without the cars, or Starbucks without the coffee. That unfathomable equation is on the drawing board, apparently, as the company faces pressure to improve its performance. The Wall Street Journal reports that Motorola is considering selling or spinning off the troubled division, which accounts for half the company's sales. But selling the company's cell-phone division makes no gut sense. It would, by itself, do nothing to improve the company's sales of handsets. And it would be crushing to the company's identity. Did you know Motorola also makes set-top boxes, walkie-talkies, and networking gear? Exactly.

3:22 PM on Thu Jan 31 2008
By Owen Thomas
166 views, 6 comments

Latest by kg4vma: motorola has been in the radio business for years--cell phones were simply a smart spin-off from their primary business model. rewind a dozen years, before cell-phones were common, and ask people about motorola. most would think of two-way radios. (they used more »

earnings

Motorola drops 20 percent on poor earnings

Motorola stock has fallen to a four-year low after a bad earnings report yesterday. The company reported earnings of 4 cents a share on $9.65 billion in sales. The profit numbers were an 84 percent drop year over year. Additionally, Motorola's market share in mobile handsets continues to decline, down to 13 percent globally. For fiscal 2007, Motorola lost $49 million compared to a $3.67 billion profit in 2006. Ouch. The largest drop came from the handset division, which reported an operating loss of $388 million. Motorola execs say a new line of "innovative" cell phone will jumpstart earnings. Unless MOT comes up with another hit phone, like the RAZR, we find that hard to believe.

11:11 AM on Wed Jan 23 2008
By Jordan Golson
177 views, Comment

exits

Motorola CEO Zander resigns

Ed Zander is stepping down as CEO of cell-phone maker Motorola on January 1. He will be replaced by current president and COO Greg Brown. Zander plans to "go do the things that my wife and I have wanted to do now for years and years." One analyst calls the move a "slight positive" for the company. In its most recent quarter, Motorola had a 94 percent drop in profit — maybe it is time for some fresh blood, but promoting Zander's No. 2 hardly seems like the trick. (Photo by AP/Damian Dovarganes)

9:42 AM on Fri Nov 30 2007
By Jordan Golson
354 views, 1 comment

Latest by sample032: As long as his replacement does a better job than Jerry Yang. Then again, Zander is no Semel. Semel was worth more to shareholders dead than alive. more »

David Ulmer is the senior director of entertainment products at Motorola. Which must be a hard job, now that the cell-phone maker no longer makes phones that are entertaining. At the CTIA Wireless trade show, he bitched about Apple's iPhone: "We've yet to see Apple's SDK [software developers' kit], and I'm sure there will be some level of [Apple] control that goes along with it. I guarantee you that you will not see a Napster music service on the iPhone." That's what we call a feature, David. Bitches just jealous. [The Register]

Comment

wireless

Motorola CEO finds software confusing, dull

Motorola CEO Ed Zander claimed that his company considered buying Navteq, the mapping-services company rival Nokia snapped up last week, but decided to pass. "We are not in the applications business," said Zander. Right. That explains, of course, why Motorola bought Good Technology, an email software company, last year. We have another theory: Bitches just jealous.

8:44 AM on Wed Oct 10 2007
By Owen Thomas
512 views, Comment

motorola

Ed Zander spins his wheels


Pity Ed Zander, who's learning that timing is everything. The Motorola CEO today had to confess to Wall Street that his company's cell-phone sales were off again and the business was looking likely to run a loss for the year. He arrived at Motorola from Silicon Valley in January 2004, hailed as a tech visionary. As sales of the Razr took off, Fortune asked if he was "the greatest CEO in America — or simply the luckiest." Neither, it turns out. Here's where Zander went wrong. More »

10:38 AM on Thu Jul 19 2007
By Owen Thomas
1,211 views, 7 comments

Latest by Owen Thomas: @ScalaWag: You fascinate me. more »

ed zander

Eric Jackson strikes again!

Rumors that Ed Zander may step down as CEO of Motorola caused the stock to rise nearly 2% today. Whether or not the rumor is true, it demonstrates investors are no longer confident in Ed Zander's leadership of the chip and cell phone manufacturer. It also shows the growing power of the grassroots shareholder campaigns of Eric Jackson, who recently took on Terry Semel at Yahoo. More »

3:06 PM on Wed Jul 11 2007
By Tim Faulkner
757 views, 2 comments