Motorola Mobility LLC
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecoms equipment Consumer electronics
Predecessors	Motorola Inc.
Founded	January 4, 2011
Headquarters	Merchandise Mart Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Rick Osterloh (President and COO) Liu Jun (Chairman)
Products	Mobile phones Smartphones Tablet computers
Parent	Lenovo
Website	motorola.com

Motorola Mobility is an American mobile device manufacturer headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company was formed on January 4, 2011 by the split of Motorola Inc. into two separate companies; Motorola Mobility took on the company's consumer-oriented product lines, including its mobile phone business and its cable modems and set-top boxes for digital cable and satellite television services, while Motorola Solutions retained the company's enterprise-oriented product lines.

The company primarily manufactures smartphones and other mobile devices running the Android operating system developed by Google Inc.; in August 2011, only several months after the split, Google announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion. Google's intent for the purchase was to gain control of Motorola Mobility's portfolio of patents, so it could adequately protect other Android vendors from lawsuits. The deal closed in May 2012, after which it also sold its cable modem and set-top box business to Arris Group. Under Google ownership, Motorola Mobility increased its focus on the entry-level smartphone market, introduced one of the first Android Wear smartwatches, and also began development on Project Ara, a platform for modular smartphones with interchangeable components.

Google's ownership of the company would be short-lived, as it announced in January 2014 that it would sell most of Motorola Mobility to Chinese personal computer and mobile device maker Lenovo for $2.91 billion in cash and roughly 6% of Lenovo shares. The sale, which excluded all but 2000 of Motorola Mobility's patents and the team working on Project Ara (which became part of the main Android development staff), was completed on October 30, 2014. Lenovo disclosed an intent to use its purchase of Motorola Mobility as a way to expand into the U.S. smartphone market.

History

Main article: Motorola

The installation of new Motorola Mobility logo near the main Google Campus, following Google's purchase

On January 4, 2011, Motorola Inc. was split into two publicly traded companies; Motorola Solutions took on the company's enterprise-oriented business units, while the consumer divisions were spun off to form Motorola Mobility. Motorola Mobility consists of the Mobile Devices business which produces smartphones and the Home business which produces set-top boxes, end-to-end video solutions, and cable modems.

On August 15, 2011, Google announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, pending regulatory approval. Critics viewed Google as being a white knight, since Motorola had recently had a fifth straight quarter of losses. Google planned to operate Motorola as an independent company. In a post on the company's blog, Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page revealed that Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility was a strategic move to strengthen Google's patent portfolio; at the time, the company had 17,000 patents, with 7,500 more patents pending. The expanded portfolio was to defend the viability of its Android operating system, which had been the subject of numerous patent infringement lawsuits between device vendors and other companies such as Apple Inc., Microsoft and Oracle Corporation.

On November 17, 2011, Motorola announced that its shareholders voted in favor of the company's acquisition by Google Inc. for $12.5 billion, receiving approval from the United States Department of Justice and the EU on February 13, 2012. The deal received subsequent approval from Chinese authorities and was completed on May 22, 2012. Alongside the completion of the acquisition, Motorola Mobility's CEO Sanjay Jha was replaced by Dennis Woodside, a former Senior Vice President at Google.

On August 13, 2012, Google announced that it would cut 4,000 employees and close one third of the company's locations, mostly outside the United States.

On December 19, 2012, it was announced that Arris Group would purchase Motorola Mobility's cable modem and set-top box business for $2.35 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction.

In May 2013, Motorola opened a factory in Fort Worth, Texas, with an intent to manufacture smartphones in the United States. At its peak, the factory employed 3,800 workers. On April 9, 2014, following the departure of Woodside, lead product developer Rick Osterloh was named the new president of Motorola.

Under Google ownership, Motorola's market share would be boosted by a focus on high-quality entry-level smartphones, aimed primarily at emerging markets; in the first quarter of 2014, Motorola sold 6.5 million phones—led by strong sales of its low-end Moto G, especially in markets such as India, and in the United Kingdom—where the company accounted for 6% of smartphone sales sold in the quarter, up from nearly 0. These goals were compounded further by the May 2014 introduction of the Moto E—a low-end device aimed at first-time smartphone owners in emerging markets. In May 2014, Motorola announced that it would close its Fort Worth factory by the end of the year, citing the high costs of domestic manufacturing in combination with the weak sales of the Moto X(which was customized and assembled at the plant) and the company's increased emphasis on low-end devices and emerging markets.

Acquisition by Lenovo

On January 29, 2014, Google announced it would, pending regulatory approval, sell Motorola Mobility to the Chinese technology firm Lenovo for US$2.91 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, seeing the sale of $750 million in Lenovo shares to Google, giving it a roughly 6% stake. Google retained the Advanced Technologies & Projects unit and reintegrated it into the main Android team, and all but 2000 of the company's patents. Lenovo had prominently disclosed its intent to enter the U.S. smartphone market, and had previously expressed interest in acquiring BlackBerry Limited, but was reportedly blocked by the Canadian government due to national security concerns. Lenovo's CEO Yang Yuanqing stated that "the acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones".

The acquisition was completed on October 30, 2014. The company will remain headquartered in Chicago, and continue to use the Motorola brand, but Liu Jun—president of Lenovo's mobile device business, became the company's chairman.

Products

Razr

In development since July 2003, Motorola released the Razr V3 in the third quarter of 2004. Because of its striking appearance and thin profile, it was initially marketed as an exclusive fashion phone, but within a year, its price was lowered and it was wildly successful, selling over 50 million units by July 2006. Over the Razr four-year run, Motorola sold more than 130 million units, becoming the bestselling clamshell phone in the world.

Motorola released other phones based on the Razr design as part of the 4LTR line. These include the Pebl U6, Slvr L6, Slvr L7 (more expensive variant of Slvr L6), Razr V3c (CDMA), Razr V3i (with upgraded camera and appearance), V3x (supports 3G technology and has a 2-megapixel camera), Razr V3xx (supports 3.5G technology) and Razr maxx V6 (supports 3.5G technology and has a 2-megapixel camera) announced on July 2006.

The Razr series was marketed until July 2007, when the succeeding Motorola Razr2 series was released. Marketed as a more sleek and more stable design of the Razr, the Razr 2 included more features, improved telephone audio quality, and a touch sensitive external screen. The new models were the V8, the V9, and the V9m. However, Razr2 sales were only half of the original in the same period.

Because Motorola relied so long upon the Razr and its derivatives and was slow to develop new products in the growing market for feature-rich touchscreen and 3G phones, the Razr appeal declined while rival offerings like the LG Chocolate, BlackBerry, and iPhone captured consumer attention, leading Motorola to eventually drop behind Samsung and LG in market share for mobile phones. Motorola's strategy of grabbing market share by selling tens of millions of low-cost Razrs cut into margins and resulted in heavy losses in the cellular division.

Motorola capitalized on the Razr too long and it was also slow adopting 3G. While Nokia managed to retain its lead of the worldwide cellular market, Motorola was surpassed first by Samsung and thenLG Electronics. By 2007, without new cellphones that carriers wanted to offer, Motorola sold tens of millions of Razrs and their offshoots by slashing prices, causing margins to collapse in the process. In January 2007, then-CEO of Motorola Ed Zander rode a yellow bike onto the stage in Las Vegas for his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show. Zander departed for Dell, while his successor failed to turn around the struggling mobile handset division.

Motorola continued to experience severe problems with its cellphone/handset division in the latter-2000s, recording a record $1.2 billion loss in Q4 2007. Its global competitiveness continued to decline: from 18.4% market share in 2007, to 9.7% by 2008. By 2010 Motorola's global market share had dropped to seventh place, leading to speculation of bankruptcy of the company. While Motorola's other businesses were thriving, the poor results from the Mobile Devices Unit as well as the 2008 financial crisis delayed the company plans to spinoff the mobile division.

Android range

In 2008, Sanjay Jha took over as co-chief executive officer of Motorola's mobile device devision; under Jha's control, significant changes were made to Motorola's mobile phone business, including most prominently, a shift to the recently-introduced Android operating system as its sole smartphone platform, replacing both Symbian and Windows Mobile. In August 2009, Motorola introduced the Cliq, its first Android device, for T-Mobile USA. The device also featured a user interface known as Motoblur, which aimed to aggregate information from various sources, such as e-mail and social networking services, into a consistent interface.

A month later, Motorola unveiled the Droid, Verizon Wireless's first Android phone, which was released on November 8, 2009. Backed with a marketing campaign by Verizon, which promoted the device as a direct competitor to the iPhone with the slogans "iDon't" and "Droid Does", the Droid was a significant success for Motorola and Verizon; Flurry estimated that at least 250,000 Droid smartphones had been sold in its first week of availability. PC World considered the sales figures to be an indicator of mainstream growth for the Android platform as a whole. The Droid was also named "Gadget of the Year" for 2009 by Time. Other Droid-branded devices would be released by Verizon, although not all of them were manufactured by Motorola.

In 2010, Motorola released the Droid X as a successor, along with other devices such as the Charm, Flipout, and i1. In July 2010, Motorola reported that it had sold 2.7 million smartphones during the second quarter of 2010; an increase of 400,000 units over the first quarter. Jha stated that the company was in "a strong position to continue improving our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market and [improve] our operating performance." In its third quarter earnings report, Jha reaffirmed that the Droid X was selling "extremely well".

Atrix 4G, Droid Bionic, XOOM, and Droid RAZR

On January 5, 2011, Motorola Mobility announced that the Atrix 4G and the Droid Bionic were headed to AT&T and Verizon, respectively, with expected release dates in Q1 of 2011. The Atrix was released on February 22 as the world's first phone with both a Dual-Core Processor and 1 GB of RAM. The phone also had optional peripherals such as a Multimedia Dock and a Laptop Dock which launched a Webtop UI. On February 24, two days after the release of Atrix, the company released Motorola Xoom, the world's first Android 3.0 tablet, and followed it up shortly afterwards with an update to make it the world's first Android 3.1 tablet.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Motorola unveiled the Droid RAZR, the world's thinnest 4G LTE smartphone at that time at just 7.1 mm. The Droid Razr featured Kevlar backing, the same used in bulletproof vests, and a Gorilla Glass faceplate.

Though Jha managed to restore some of the lost luster to Motorola Mobility, through its last years as a division and then as an independent company, it still struggled against Samsung and Apple. Even among Android manufacturers, Motorola had dropped behind Samsung, HTC, and LG in Q2 of 2011. This may have been attributed to the delay in releasing 4G LTE-capable devices, as well as setting the prices of its new products too high.

Moto X

Main article: Moto X

In an August 2013 interview, Motorola Corporate VP of product management Lior Ron explained that the company will focus on the production of fewer products to focus on quality rather than quantity. Ron stated, "Our mandate from Google, from Larry, is really to innovate and take long-term bets. When you have that sort of mentality, it’s about quality and not quantity".

Speaking at the D11 conference in Palos Verdes, California, in May 2013, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside announced that a new mobile device would be built by his company at a 500,000 square-feet facility near Fort Worth, Texas, formerly used by Nokia. The facility will employ 2,000 people by August 2013 and the new phone, to be named "Moto X", will be available to the public in October 2013. The Moto X featured Google Now software, and an array of sensors and two microprocessors that will mean that users can “interact with [the phone] in very different ways than you can with other devices”. Media reports suggested that the phone will be able to activate functions preemptively based on an "awareness" of what the user is doing at any given moment.

On July 3, 2013, Motorola released a full-page color advertisement in many prominent newspapers across the United States. The advertisement claimed that Motorola's next flagship phone will be "the first smartphone designed, engineered, and assembled in the United States". On the same day that the advertisement was published, ABC News reported that customers will be able to choose the color of the phone, as well as add custom engravings and wallpaper at the time of purchase.

In early July 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported that Motorola will spend nearly US$500 million on global advertising and marketing for the device. The amount is equivalent to half of Apple's total advertising budget for 2012.

On August 1, 2013, Motorola Mobility unveiled the Moto X smartphone. It was released on August 23, 2013 in the United States and Canada.

Moto G

Main article: Moto G

On November 13, 2013, Motorola Mobility unveiled the the Moto G, a relatively low-cost smartphone. The Moto G will be launched in several markets, including the UK, United States, France, Germany, India and parts of Latin America and Asia. The Moto G is available in the United States, unlocked, for a starting price of US$179. The device is geared toward global markets and some US models support 4G LTE. Unlike the Moto X, the Moto G is not manufactured in the United States.

Moto E

Main article: Moto E

The Moto E was announced and launched on May 13, 2014.. Released in the wake of its successful first generation, the Moto E is an entry-level device that is intended to compete against feature phones by providing a durable, low-cost device for first-time smartphone owners or budget-minded consumers, with a particular emphasis on emerging markets. he Moto E ships with a stock version of Android 4.4 "KitKat".

Moto 360

Main article: Moto 360

Moto 360 is a round smartwatch, powered by Google's Android Wear OS, a version of Google's popular Android mobile platform specifically designed for the wearable market. It integrates Google Now and pairs to an Android 4.3 or above smartphone for notifications and control over various features.

Competitors

• Samsung Electronics
• Apple Inc.
• HTC
• BlackBerry Ltd
• LG Electronics
• Sony Mobile Communications
• Microsoft (formerly Nokia)
• Micromax Mobile

Products

Motorola Products
Series	Tablets, phones and smartphones
4LTR	AURA (R), FONE (F), KRZR (K), MING (A1680), PEBL (U), RAZR (V, VE), RAZR2 (V), RIZR (Z), ROKR (E, EM, W, Z, ZN), SLVR (L), ZINE (ZN)
A	A760, A780, A835, A845, A910, A920, A925, A1000
Android smartphones	Atrix 4G, Atrix 2, Atrix HD, Backflip, Charm, Citrus, CLIQ/DEXT, CLIQ XT/DEXT XT, Cliq2/DEXT2, DEFY, Devour, Droid/Milestone, Droid Bionic, Droid 2/Milestone 2, Droid Maxx & Ultra, Droid Mini, Droid Pro/Xprt, Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR HD, Motorola RAZR I, Droid RAZR M, Droid Turbo, Droid X, Droid 2 Global, Droid X2, Droid 3, Droid 4, Electrify, Flipout, i1, Milestone XT701, Milestone XT720, Ming A1680, Moto E, Moto G (2013, 2014), Moto X (2013, 2014) Photon 4G, Photon Q, Triumph
Android tablets	XOOM, XOOM Family Edition, Droid Xyboard/XOOM 2
C	C115, C168/C168i, C300, C331, C332 C333, C350, C550, C139, C620, C385, C390
cd/d	cd160, cd920, cd930, d520
E	E365, E398, E550, E680, E770, E815/E816, E1000
i	i710, i860, i870, i920/i930, i880, i455/i450, i9, i680, i1000plus, i58sr, i1
International	3200, 3300
M	M3188, M3288, M3588, M3688, M3788, M3888
MPx	MPx200, MPx220
Others	Accompli, SlimLite, Talkabout, Timeport
Q	Q, Q8, Q9h, Q9c, Q9m, Q11
T	T180, T190, T720
TAC	DynaTAC, MicroTAC, StarTAC
V	V50, V60i, V66i, V180, V188, V190, V220, V265, V276, V325, V360, V400, V525, V535, V551, V557, V600, V620, V635, V710, V980
VE	VE538, VE66
W	W156/W160, W175/W180, W181, W206/W213, W220, W230, W270, W370, W377, W385, W490, W510

Last updated on 9 November 2014 at 05:11.

Read More »

Motorola, Inc.
Industry	Telecommunications
Fate	Divided into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions
Successors	Motorola Mobility Motorola Solutions Freescale Semiconductor ON Semiconductor
Founded	September 25, 1928
Defunct	January 4, 2011
Headquarters	1303 East Algonquin Road, Schaumburg, Illinois, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Gregory Brown(CEO and Chairman-Motorola Solutions)
Products	Tablet computers Mobile phones Smartphones Two-way radios Networking systems Cable television systems Wireless broadband networks RFID systems Mobile telephone infrastructure
Website	www.motorola.com

Motorola, Inc. /moʊtɵˈroʊlə/ was a multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States (U.S.). After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company was divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011. Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spun off.

Motorola designed and sold wireless network equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products included set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television. Its business and government customers consisted mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems (used to build private networks), and, public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra. These businesses (except for set-top boxes and cable modems) are now part of Motorola Solutions. Google sold Motorola Home (the former General Instrument cable businesses) to the Arris Group in 2012.

Motorola's wireless telephone handset division was a pioneer in cellular telephones. Also known as the Personal Communication Sector (PCS) prior to 2004, it pioneered the "flip phone" with the MicroTAC as well as the "clam phone" with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s. It had staged a resurgence by the mid-2000s with the RAZR, but lost market share in the second half of that decade. Later it focused on smartphones using Google's open-source Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use the newest version of Google's open source OS, Android 2.0, was released on November 2, 2009 as the Motorola Droid (the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone). The handset division (along with cable set-top boxes and cable modems) was later spun off into the independent Motorola Mobility. On May 22, 2012, Google CEO Larry Page announced that Google had closed on its deal to acquire Motorola Mobility. On January 29, 2014, Google CEO Larry Page announced that pending closure of the deal, Motorola Mobility would be acquired by Chinese technology company Lenovo for US$2.91 billion (subject to certain adjustments).

History

Local branch in Glostrup, Denmark.

Motorola started in Chicago, Illinois as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (at 847 West Harrison Street) in 1928, with its first product being a battery eliminator. At that time the radio had not yet been developed for use in automobiles, but Bill Lear and Howard Gates of Zenith made a pair; Lear designed the circuit and layout, Gates did the metal work and Lear assembled them. Bill Lear presented Paul Galvin with the prototype, and he initially dismissed it. Later the idea was taken up by Galvin and a 200 unit production run was made. In 1930 Galvin Manufacturing Corporation introduced the Motorola radio, one of the first commercially successful car radios. The company's founder Paul V. Galvin and investor Bill Lear created the brand name Motorola. Galvin and Lear mulled over names for the product on a cross-country trip and came up with "Motorola" which was a blend of "motor" and the then popular suffix -ola used with audio equipment of the time (for example "Victrola"). The product was such a success that Galvin changed the name of the company to Motorola.

The name "Motorola" was adopted in 1930, and the word has been used as a trademark since the 1930s.

Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for radios, through the first walkie-talkie in the world in 1940, defense electronics,cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. In the same year, the company built its research and development program with Dan Noble, a pioneer in FM radio and semiconductor technologies, who joined the company as director of research. The company produced the hand-held AM SCR-536 radio during World War II, which was vital to Allied communication. Motorola ranked 94th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.

In 1943, Motorola went public and in 1947, became Motorola, Inc. At this time, Motorola's main business was producing and selling televisions and radios.

In October 1946, Motorola communications equipment carried the first calls on Illinois Bell telephone company's new car radiotelephone service in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1955, years after Motorola started its research and development laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona, to research new solid-state technology, Motorola introduced the world's first commercial high-power germanium-based transistor. The present "batwing" logo was also introduced in 1955 (having been created by award-winning Chicago graphic designer Morton Goldsholl in late 1954).

Beginning in 1958, with Explorer 1, Motorola provided radio equipment for most NASA space-flights for decades including during the 1969 moon landing. A year later, it established a subsidiary to conduct licensing and manufacturing for international markets.

Motorola created numerous products for use by the government, public safety officials, business installments, and the general public. These products included cell phones, laptops, computer processors, and radio communication devices. The Motorola RAZR line sold over 120 million units, which brought the company to the number two mobile phone slot in 2005.

Since the 1950s, used Motorola radio equipment has been popular with amateur radio ("ham") operators. Known as "Ma Batwings," Motorola has provided little to no support to hobbyists, who keep using these radios for years or even decades after they were taken out of production.

The company began making televisions in 1947 with the model VT-71 with 7-inch cathode ray tube. In 1960, it introduced the world's first large-screen portable (19-inch), transistorized, cordless television. In 1963, it introduced the first rectangular color picture tube and in 1967 introduced the modular Quasar brand. In 1974, Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based Matsushita - the parent company of Panasonic.

In 1952, Motorola opened its first international subsidiary in Toronto, Canada to produce radios and televisions. In 1953, the company established the Motorola Foundation to support leading universities in the United States. In 1964, it opened its first company Research and Development branch outside of the United States, in Israel under the management of Moses Basin.

In 1969 Neil Armstrong spoke the famous words "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" from the Moon on a Motorola transceiver.

In 1973, Motorola demonstrated the first hand-held portable telephone.

In 1974, Motorola introduced its first microprocessor, the 8-bit MC6800, used in automotive, computing and video game applications.

In 1976, Motorola moved its headquarters to the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois.

In 1980, Motorola’s next generation 32-bit microprocessor, the MC68000, led the wave of technologies that spurred the computing revolution in 1984, powering devices from companies such as Apple, Commodore, Atari, Sun, and Hewlett Packard.

Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first private handheld mobile phone call on a larger prototype model in 1973. This is a reenactment in 2007.

In September 1983, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the DynaTAC 8000X telephone, the world's first commercial cellular device. By 1998, cellphones accounted for two thirds of Motorola's gross revenue. The company was also strong in semiconductor technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. In particular, it is known for the 6800 family and 68000 family of microprocessors used in Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Color Computer, and Apple Macintosh personal computers. The PowerPC family was developed with IBM and in a partnership with Apple (known as the AIM alliance). Motorola also has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite systems, digital cable boxes and modems.

In 1986, Motorola invented the Six Sigma quality improvement process. This became a global standard. In 1990, General Instrument Corporation, which was later acquired by Motorola, proposed the first all-digital HDTV standard. In the same year, the company introduced the Bravo numeric pager which became the world's best-selling pager.

In 1991, Motorola demonstrated the world's first working-prototype digital cellular system and phones using GSM standard in Hanover, Germany. In 1994, Motorola introduced the world's first commercial digital radio system that combined paging, data and cellular communications and voice dispatch in a single radio network and handset. In 1995 Motorola introduced the world's first two-way pager which allowed users to receive text messages and e-mail and reply with a standard response.

In 1998, Motorola was overtaken by Nokia as the world's biggest seller of mobile phone handsets.

On September 15, 1999, Motorola announced it would buy General Instrument in an $11 billion stock swap. General Instrument had long been the No. 1 cable TV equipment provider, supplying cable operators with end-to-end hybrid fiber coax cable solutions. This meant that GI offers all cable TV transmission network components from the head-end to the fiber optic transmission nodes to the cable set-top boxes, now at the availability of Motorola.

In 1999, Motorola separated the Semiconductor Component Group (SCG) and formed ON Semiconductor, headquarters located in Phoenix, Arizona.

In June 2000, Motorola and Cisco supplied the world's first commercial GPRS cellular network to BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom. The world's first GPRS cell phone was also developed by Motorola.

In 2002, Motorola introduced the world's first wireless cable modem gateway which combined a high-speed cable modem router with an ethernet switch and wireless home gateway.

In 2003, Motorola introduced the world's first handset to combine a Linux operating system and Java technology with "full PDA functionality".

In June 2005 Motorola overtook the intellectual property of Sendo for $30,000 and paid £362,575 for the plant, machinery and equipment.

In June 2006, Motorola acquired the software platform (AJAR) developed by the British company TTP Communications plc.

In 2006, the firm announced a music subscription service named iRadio. The technology came after a break in a partnership with Apple Computer (which in 2005 had produced an iTunes compatible cell phone ROKR E1, and most recently, mid-2007, its own iPhone). iRadio has many similarities with existing satellite radio services (such as Sirius and XM Radio) by offering live streams of commercial-free music content. Unlike satellite services, however, iRadio content will be downloaded via a broadband internet connection. As of 2008, iRadio has not been commercially released and no further information is available.

In 2007, Motorola acquired Symbol Technologies to provide products and systems for enterprise mobility solutions, including rugged mobile computing, advanced data capture, and radio frequency identification (RFID).

In January 2011, Motorola split into two separate companies, each still using the word Motorola as part of their name. One company, Motorola Solutions (using a blue version of the Motorola logo), is based in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois and concentrates on police technologies, radios, and commercial needs. The other company, Motorola Mobility (using a red logo), is based in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Illinois and is the mobile handset producer. The split was structured so that Motorola Solutions was the legal successor of the old Motorola, while Motorola Mobility was the spinoff.

August 15, 2011, Google announced that it would purchase Motorola Mobility for about $12.5 billion. On November 17, 2011, Motorola Mobility stockholders “voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger with Google Inc”.

May 22, 2012: Google announces that the acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. has closed, with Google acquiring MMI for $40.00 per share in cash. ($12.5 billion).

Jan 29, 2014: Google sells off the Motorola Mobility to Lenovo. The purchase price is approximately US$2.91 billion (subject to certain adjustments), including US$1.41 billion paid at close: US$660 million in cash and US$750 million in Lenovo ordinary shares (subject to a share cap/floor). The remaining US$1.5 billion will be paid in the form of a three-year promissory note.

Google maintains ownership of the vast majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures. But Lenovo will receive a license to this rich portfolio of patents and other intellectual property. Additionally Lenovo will receive over 2,000 patent assets, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.

Divisional Products:

• Enterprise Mobility Solutions: Headquarters located in Schaumburg, Illinois; comprises communications offered to government and public safety sectors and enterprise mobility business. Motorola develops analog and digital two-way radio, voice and data communications products and systems, mobile computing, advanced data capture, wireless infrastructure and RFID solutions to customers worldwide.
• Home & Networks Mobility: Headquarters located in Arlington Heights, Illinois; produces end-to-end systems that facilitate uninterrupted access to digital entertainment, information and communications services via wired and wireless mediums. Motorola develops digital video system solutions, interactive set-top devices, voice and data modems for digital subscriber line and cable networks, broadband access systems for cable and satellite television operators, and also wireline carriers and wireless service providers.
• Mobile Devices: Headquarters located in Libertyville, Illinois; designs wireless handsets, but also licenses much of its intellectual properties. This includes cellular and wireless systems and as well as integrated applications and Bluetooth accessories.

Finances

Motorola's handset division recorded a loss of US$1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, while the company as a whole earned $100 million during that quarter. It lost several key executives to rivals, and the web site TrustedReviews called the company's products repetitive and uninnovative. Motorola laid off 3,500 workers in January 2008, followed by a further 4,000 job cuts in June and another 20% cut of its research division a few days later. In July 2008 a large number of executives left Motorola to work on Apple Inc.'s iPhone. The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale. Also that month, analyst Mark McKechnie from American Technology Research said that Motorola "would be lucky to fetch $500 million" for selling its handset business. Analyst Richard Windsor said that Motorola might have to pay someone to take the division off the company's hands, and that Motorola may even exit the handset market altogether. Its global market share has been on the decline; from 18.4% of the market in 2007 the company had a share of just 6.0% by Q1 2009, but at last Motorola scored a profit of $26 million in Q2 and showed an increase of 12% in stocks for the first time after losses in many quarters. During the second quarter of 2010, the company reported a profit of $162 million, which compared very favorably to the $26 million earned for the same period the year before. Its Mobile Devices division reported, for the first time in years, earnings of $87 million.

Spin-offs

Television and radio manufacturing

In 1974,matloob Motorola divested itself of its television and radio-manufacturing division, which included the Quasar brand of electronics. This division was acquired by Matsushita, already known under its Panasonic brand in North America, where it was looking to expand.

Iridium

Motorola developed the global communication network using a set of 77 satellites. The business ambitions behind this project and the need for raising venture capital to fund the project led to the creation of the Iridium company in the late 1990s. While the technology was proven to work, Iridium failed to attract sufficient customers and it filed for bankruptcy in 1999. Obligations to Motorola and loss of expected revenue caused Motorola to spin off the ON Semiconductor (ONNN) business August 4, 1999, raising about $1.1 billion.

Motorola manufactured two satellite phone handsets for this network – the 9500 and 9505 as well as transceiver units. Some of these are still in production by an OEM but sold under the Iridium brand.

Government and defense

Due to declines in business in 2000 and 2001, Motorola spun off its government and defense business to General Dynamics. The business deal closed September 2001. Thus GD Decision Systems was formed (and later merged with General Dynamics C4 Systems) from Motorola's Integrated Information Systems Group.

Semiconductor

On August 4, 1999 Motorola, Inc.'s Semiconductor Components Group, manufacturing Motorola's discrete, standard analog and standard logic devices was spun-off, recapitalized and established as an independent company named ON Semiconductor.

On October 16, 2004, Motorola announced that it would spin off its Semiconductor Products Sector into a separate company called Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.. The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 16 of the following year.

Automotive

On January 29, 1988 Motorola sold its Arcade, New York facility and automotive alternators, electromechanical speedometers and tachometers products to Prestolite Electric.

In July 2006 Motorola completed the sale of its automotive business to Continental AG. Motorola’s automotive unit had annual sales of $1.6 billion (€1.33 billion) and employed 4,500. The divisions products included telematics systems - like GM's OnStar used for vehicle navigation and safety services, engine and transmission control electronics, vehicle control, electronics and sensors used in steering, braking, and power doors and power windows.

Biometrics

In 2000, Motorola acquired Printrak International Inc. for $160 million. In doing so, Motorola not only acquired computer aided dispatch and related software, but also acquired Automated fingerprint identification system software.

In October 2008, Motorola agreed to sell its Biometrics business to Safran, a French defense firm. Motorola's biometric business unit was headquartered in Anaheim, Calif. The deal closed in April 2009. The unit became part of Sagem Morpho, which was renamed MorphoTrak.

Split

On March 26, 2008, Motorola's board of directors approved a split into two different publicly traded companies. This came after talk of selling the handset division to another corporation. These new companies would comprise the business units of the current Motorola Mobile Devices and Motorola Broadband & Mobility Solutions. Originally it was expected that this action would be approved by regulatory bodies and complete by mid-2009, but the split was delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008–2009 extreme economic downturn.

On February 11, 2010, Motorola announced its separation into two independent, publicly traded companies, effective Q1 2011. The official split occurred at around 12:00 pm EST on January 4, 2011. The two new companies are called Motorola Mobility (owned by Google; cell phone and cable television equipment company) and Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI; Government and Enterprise Business). Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spun off.

Motorola Mobility deal by Google

On August 15, 2011, seven months after Motorola Mobility was spun off into an independent company, Google announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, subject to approval from regulators in the United States and Europe.

According to the filing, Google senior vice president Andy Rubin first reached out to Motorola Mobility in early July 2011 to discuss the purchase by some of Google's competitors of the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks Corp., and to assess its potential impact on the Android ecosystem.

Google boosted its offer for Motorola Mobility by 33% in a single day in early August, even though Motorola wasn't soliciting competing bids. The aggressive bidding by Google showed that the search engine company was under considerable pressure to beef up its patent portfolio to protect its promising Android franchise from a growing number of legal challenges.

According to the filing, Google and Motorola began discussions about Motorola's patent portfolio in early July, as well as the "intellectual property litigation and the potential impact of such litigation on the Android ecosystem".

Although the two companies discussed the possibility of an acquisition after the initial contact by Mr. Rubin, it was only after Motorola pushed back on the idea of patent sale that the acquisition talks picked up steam.

The turning point came during a meeting on July 6. At the meeting, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha discussed the protection of the Android ecosystem with Google senior vice president Nikesh Arora, and during that talk Jha told Arora that "it could be problematic for Motorola Mobility to continue to exist as a stand-alone entity if it sold a large portion of its patent portfolio".

In connection with these discussions, the two companies signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement that allowed Google to do due diligence on the company's patent portfolio.

On July 21 and 23, Jha met with Arora and Rubin to discuss strategic options between the two companies, agreeing to continue to discuss a potential sale. On the morning of August 15, the two companies entered into a merger agreement at the offered price of $40. On November 17, Motorola Mobility stockholders approved the proposed merger with Google Inc. On April 17, 2013, ARRIS Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) announced that it completed its acquisition of the Motorola Home business from a subsidiary of Google Inc.

Motorola Mobility (Google) deal by Lenovo

On January 29, 2014, Google announced Lenovo plans to acquire the Motorola Mobility smartphone business. The purchase price is approximately US$2.91 billion (subject to certain adjustments), including US$1.41 billion paid at close: US$660 million in cash and US$750 million in Lenovo ordinary shares (subject to a share cap/floor). The remaining US$1.5 billion will be paid in the form of a three-year promissory note.

Google will maintain ownership of the vast majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures. As part of its ongoing relationship with Google, Lenovo will receive a license to this rich portfolio of patents and other intellectual property. Additionally Lenovo will receive over 2,000 patent assets, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio.

Canopy and Orthogon

Cambium Networks was created when Motorola Solutions sold the Canopy and Orthogon businesses in 2011. Cambium Networks has evolved the platform and expanded it to three product lines: Point to Point (PTP) (formerly Orthogon), Point to Multipoint (PMP) (formerly Canopy) and ePMP.

Quality systems

The Six Sigma quality system was developed at Motorola even though it became best known through its use by General Electric. It was created by engineer Bill Smith, under the direction of Bob Galvin (son of founder Paul Galvin) when he was running the company. Motorola University is one of many places that provide Six Sigma training.

Environmental record

Motorola, Inc., along with the Arizona Water Co. has been identified as the sources of trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination that took place in Scottsdale, Arizona. The malfunction led to a ban on the use of water that lasted three days and affected almost 5000 people in the area. Motorola was found to be the main source of the TCE, an industrial solvent that is thought to cause cancer. The TCE contamination was caused by a faulty blower on an air stripping tower that was used to take TCE from the water, and Motorola has attributed the situation to operator error.

Of eighteen leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics (October 2010), Motorola shares sixth place with competitors Panasonic and Sony).

Motorola scores relatively well on the chemicals criteria and has a goal to eliminate PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), though only in mobile devices and not in all its products introduced after 2010, despite the fact that Sony Ericsson and Nokia are already there. All of its mobile phones are now PVC-free and it has two PVC and BFR-free mobile phones, the A45 ECO and the GRASP; all chargers are also free from PVC and BFRs.

The company is also increasing the proportion of recycled materials that used in its products. For example, the housings for the MOTO W233 Renew and MOTOCUBO A45 Eco mobile phones contain plastic from post-consumer recycled water cooler bottles. According to the company’s information, all of Motorola’s newly designed chargers meet the current Energy Star requirements and exceed the requirements for standby/no-load modes by at least 67%.

Sponsorships

Motorola sponsored Scottish Premier League club Motherwell F.C. for 11 years. This long term deal ended after the company started to reduce its manufacturing operations in Scotland. The company also sponsored Livingston F.C. between 1998 and 2002. The company also had a plant on the edge of the town. However, this closed down at the same time as their sponsorship with the club ended. The South Stand at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium, was named after the company, during their time of sponsorship. The company also sponsored a cycling team that counted Lance Armstrong amongst its members. Motorola is also a sponsor of Danica Patrick, David Beckham, and Fergie. It also sponsored the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League from 2004 to 2007. Motorola sponsored São Paulo FC from 2000 to 2001. Motorola also sponsored Club Bolívar since 2008. Motorola awarded TrackIT Solutions for being "The company with most Innovative Enterprise Mobility Solution" in 2010.

Robby Gordon was sponsored by Motorola in 2007 and 2008. Motorola is on Gordon's car in NASCAR 07 and NASCAR 08.

Back to Motorola Mobility
Last updated on 15 October 2014 at 21:49.

Read More »