Motorola still losing money Developments in the handset business dominated the third-quarter results call from Motorola - ironic considering that the division continues to be such a drain on the rest of the firm, which will be much better off without it. Motorola had revenue of $7.4bn in the last three months, with $3.1bn of that coming from handset …
"dropping support for every platform except Android, Windows Mobile and P2K"
Can't do anything well (e.g. Symbian), well then do something different and hope no-one notices (or say, this Android platform is new, we expect phenomenal growth - just before you go for your big bonus in 2010).
Windows Mobile - because of "Strategic Relationships"
P2K because it was invented in-house
Android because it's the latest thing
ditch Symbian because, well, it's EuroTrash owned by Nokia... forget it works. They'll be ditching ARM processors next...
I had stock when it was worth $60US [after a 3-for-1 stock split]. Now a share can barely buy a very cheap trio meal at McDonalds. [$5.20US]
There is still a class action lawsuit against the company because of their shennanigans around the dot.com crash. And they are [last I heard] suppost to split off the handset stuff.
I own their razr and the Rokr T505 speakerphone. Both are excellent. But their recent handsets aren't. I think the Razr2 has died a slow death. Do people really need buttons on the outside specifically for playing [MP3] music when the battery life sucks?
When the bus has already gone over the guardrail and is falling into the deep deep canyon with jagged rocks hundreds of feet down it doesn't really matter who is behind the wheel. That said, I don't think that it is of any real benefit to pay that person upwards of 10m/year to pilot said bus into the abyss.
Looks kinda grim for UIQ. First ditched by Sony Ericsson and now Moto.
FWIW Android is looking rather cool, the OS is responsive and fast on the G1, which while not an iPhone killer is certainly far from crap.
"I think the Razr2 has died a slow death. Do people really need buttons on the outside specifically for playing [MP3] music when the battery life sucks?"
I have a razr2 v9, and I like it. Getting harder to find a clamshell now that they are out of fashion, but I like having a thin phone which doesn't break when I put it in my back pocket and sit on it, nor press 999 because all the other buttons are locked.
Battery life is fine for someone like me who doesn't spend his life on the phone.
And the external buttons are exactly what I wanted so I don't need a separate mp3 player.
But I had to ask for it specifically in the Three shop as it wasn't on display.
And moto dropped the ball on the V8. Mp3 player with no memory - what were they thinking!
I really miss the clamshell phones, the last one I had was a SonyEriccson W300. But if I remember well, one of the first ones was the StarTAC, which I loved: big when open, but small when closed; being able to carry it without having all the buttons pressed.
Motorola has mostly kept with the clamshell devices (at least the last time I looked 'em) while others have ditched them. One of the reasons I didn't buy a SonyEricsson handset when I changed handsets was that SE didn't release any other W-series clamshells after the W300. Instead, I went for a BlackBerry Curve; if I'm going to have a huge-ass mobile, it should have a proper QWERTY keyboard to justify the size.
It's kind of sad that Motorola's cellphone business seems to be on the fritz, it used to have the best mobiles around; my StarTAC even survived a street fight without failing (they did make 'em tough!) and my friend's 120t survived a world of abuse, due to its owner using the phone for things it wasn't intended to... like opening beer bottles, or as a hammer.
Funny how current trends seem to go down the 'shiny but fragile' road; just look at the iPhone. I'd like to see how well it would fare after rolling one floor down the stairs (like my W300), falling into a puddle under heavy rain (again, my W300) or flying 20m from my hand and falling hard to the ground (my BB 8300). I even doubt an iPhone (or any iPhone look-alike) would survive the sheer pressure of squeezed-together people you normally see in the subway's peak hours!
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