Posts Tagged Motorola
Motorola signs frame agreement with China Mobile
Motorola has announced that it has signed a one-year frame agreement with China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) to provide wireless equipment and services. The frame agreement’s projected shipment and services value is estimated to be USD310 million. Under the deal Motorola will supply GSM/GPRS/EDGE infrastructure and related services in various markets already served by its radio infrastructure equipment. The kit will be used by China Mobile to provide voice and data capacity and will ensure interoperability between the cellco’s GSM and TD-SCDMA networks. ‘Motorola has worked with China Mobile for more than 20 years,’ said Dr. Mohammad Akhtar, vice president and general manager of Home and Networks Mobility, Motorola China. ‘As a long-term strategic partner of China Mobile, Motorola is proud to continue being a part of its growth. Motorola has always been an innovator and pioneer in the mobile telecoms industry. With the comprehensive end-to-end portfolio that covers 2G, 3G and LTE, Motorola stands ready to support China Mobile in building a state-of-the-art network that maximises investments and delivers the most appealing communications experiences to its end users at home and on-the-go.’
Add comment May 14, 2009
Android Smartphone Shipments to Grow Faster Than Apple’s iPhone
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global Android smartphone shipments will grow 900 percent in 2009. Healthy support from operators, vendors and developers is driving adoption. Apple iPhone OS will be the next fastest-growing smartphone operating system in 2009, with a 79 percent growth rate. Tom Kang, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “We forecast global Android smartphone shipments to grow an impressive 900 percent annually during 2009. The Android mobile operating system from Google gained early traction in the United States in the second half of 2008 and it is gradually spreading its presence into Europe and Asia during 2009. Android is expanding from a low base and it is consequently outgrowing the iPhone OS from Apple, which we estimate will grow at a relatively lower 79 percent annually in 2009.”Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Android has fast been winning healthy support among operators, vendors and developers. A relatively low-cost licensing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google’s support for cloud services have encouraged companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others to support the Android operating system. Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years.”
Add comment May 11, 2009
MTNL set for India’s first commercial 3G launch
Despite ongoing delays in the auction process for 3G spectrum in India, Mahanagar Nigam Telecom Ltd (MTNL) looks set to become the first operator to launch UMTS services commercially, the Economic Times reports. The state-owned telco has announced that it will launch its next generation services, offered under the Jadoo brand, on 5 February in central Delhi, including the Connaught Place, India Gate, Pragati Madan, Delhi Gate and Minto Road areas. US-based Motorola has been contracted to roll out the new core network. The launch comes after MTNL was allocated 3G spectrum at the end of 2008, giving it a head start over other operators, which are still waiting for the government to finalise 3G policy. Fellow state-run operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is the only other company that has been given frequencies for 3G services, and is expected to launch commercially in the near future.
Add comment February 5, 2009
Motorola posts massive loss as handset sales plummet
US-based equipment manufacturer Motorola has reported a massive USD3.58 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 caused by large write-downs and restructuring costs as the firm attempts to turn its business around. In the same period in 2007 Motorola saw a net profit of USD100 million. Turnover for 4Q 2008 dropped 26% year-on-year to USD7.14 billion, with the company saying this was ‘primarily attributable to lower sales of mobile devices’. It shipped 19.2 million handsets in the three months to end-December 2008, less than half the 40.9 million shipped a year before. The vendor is predicting further losses in 1Q 2009. Meanwhile, Motorola has also announced the departure of chief financial officer Paul Liska. Senior VP and corporate controller Edward Fitzpatrick has assumed the position of acting CFO until a permanent replacement can be found.
Add comment February 4, 2009
Motorola Reports Quarterly Loss of $3.6 Billion – Seeks Replacement CFO
Motorola has reported that it generated sales of US$7.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 – and a net loss of US$3.6 billion, driven mainly by write-downs of goodwill and an increase in deferred tax asset valuation reserves. During the quarter, the Company generated positive operating cash flow of $201 million.For the full year 2008, sales were $30.1 billion, and the net loss was US$2.4 billion.The Company’s outlook for the first quarter is a loss of around US$250-$300 million. This outlook excludes charges associated with the Company’s operating expense reduction initiatives, as well as any other items of the variety typically highlighted by the Company in its quarterly earnings releases.
The Company also announced today that its Board of Directors voted to suspend the declaration of quarterly cash dividends on the Company’s common stock, effective immediately. The Board believes suspending the dividend will further strengthen the Company’s balance sheet and enhance its financial flexibility.
Add comment February 4, 2009
Motorola opens LTE trial network, test lab in the UK
US-based hardware vendor Motorola has announced that it has launched a trial Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and testing lab in Swindon, UK. Motorola said that the launch was marked with a live, over the air, standards compliant LTE call during which high speed data services were streamed using the company’s LTE infrastructure operating in the 2.6GHz spectrum and a prototype LTE device. The expansion of Motorola’s LTE trial facilities will reportedly offer operators the ability to engage in LTE technology field trials and detailed real-world equipment testing at the UK site. Additionally, Motorola has said it can host the core elements of the LTE network for operators that require a hosted LTE trial. It is understood that the LTE lab will see Motorola engineers work on LTE radio frequency and self organising network (SON) development. Motorola’s first commercial release of LTE solutions is expected later this year, and will reportedly include products for both the 700MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum bands.
Add comment February 2, 2009
Vodafone Expands Mobile Advertising in Greece and Netherlands
Mobile advertising agency, MADS says that it has won contracts from Vodafone Netherlands and Vodafone Greece to integrate mobile adverts within their Vodafone live! portals. We selected MADS because of their ability to power multi-channel and targeted ad delivery and their ability to provide innovative solutions and fast time to market, states Nils Rouwendal, Manager of Mobile Marketing at Vodafone Netherlands.
Johnson & Johnson, Nokia, EA games, Volkswagen, Nivea, Citroen, Motorola, Coca-Cola, LG and other premium brands have already launched successful advertising campaigns on Vodafone mobile channels. Research has proven that mobile advertising allows brands to target consumers in a very personal way, resulting in significantly higher response and click-through-rates compared to traditional online advertising.
Add comment January 29, 2009
China Unicom selects W-CDMA vendors
According to The South China Post, five firms have won significant contracts from China Unicom in the tender for the deployment of W-CDMA infrastructure. The winners have been announced as Huawei, Ericsson, ZTE, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent all winning a share of the spoils. The results were released in the form of percentages awarded to various equipment suppliers: Huawei, which has a partnership with Motorola, was the largest winner with a 30.6% share of the 70,000 base station deployment; Ericsson which partners Fiberhome Telecommunication Technologies and Guangzhou New Postcom Equipment won a 26.5% share; ZTE won 21.5%; Nokia Siemens Networks 11.1%; and Alcatel-Shanghai Bell 10.2%.
China Unicom plans to deploy 3G networks in 55 cities in the first half of this year, spending RMB30 billion (USD4.39 billion), and 280 cities by the end of 2009, at a cost of RMB60 billion. The firm is targeting the completion of the first flagship city networks by 17 April and the first commercial network launches on 17 May 2009, the paper says.
1 comment January 28, 2009
Global Mobile Phone Shipments Dropped by 10% in Q4 2008
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global mobile phone shipments fell 10 percent year-over-year, to reach 295 million units in Q4 2008. An economic downturn in developed and emerging markets caused the industry’s slowest growth rate since 2001.Bonny Joy, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics said, Global mobile phone shipments fell to 295 million units during Q4 2008, down a significant 10 percent from 329 million units in Q4 2007. An economic downturn in developed and developing markets caused the industry’s slowest growth rate since Q4 2001. Retailers have been de-stocking due to credit tightness, while consumers delayed purchases because of fears of a recession.
Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, Three of the big 5 cellphone vendors recorded negative annual growth rates in Q4 2008. Motorola declined 54 percent, Sony Ericsson 21 percent and Nokia 15 percent. With volumes and revenues contracting sharply this year, much of the mobile industry’s focus will inevitably be on controlling costs and restoring profitability during 2009.
Add comment January 27, 2009
Motorola and Sony Ericsson continue further cost cutting
Motorola and Sony Ericsson, two of the world’s most well-known phone manufacturers, signalled more evidence of their plight last week with a raft of further cost cutting.Motorola is set to cut 4,000 jobs in addition to the 3,000 it announced in 2008, in a bid to reduce costs.The majority of cuts will come from its mobile devices division to save $700m (£481m) in 2009, in addition to the $800m (£550) it said it would save in 2009 from its restructure last year.
Motorola will now focus almost completely on phones based on the Android operating system, rather than Windows Mobile. It is also scaling back the number of new handsets it will produce.Last week, Sony Ericsson announced results that were worse than many analysts had expected, posting a £6.9m loss in 2008.
Add comment January 22, 2009
Motorola and Sony Ericsson continue further cost cutting
Motorola and Sony Ericsson, two of the world’s most well-known phone manufacturers, signalled more evidence of their plight last week with a raft of further cost cutting. Motorola is set to cut 4,000 jobs in addition to the 3,000 it announced in 2008, in a bid to reduce costs. The majority of cuts will come from its mobile devices division to save $700m (£481m) in 2009, in addition to the $800m (£550) it said it would save in 2009 from its restructure last year.
Motorola will now focus almost completely on phones based on the Android operating system, rather than Windows Mobile. It is also scaling back the number of new handsets it will produce.Last week, Sony Ericsson announced results that were worse than many analysts had expected, posting a £6.9m loss in 2008.
Add comment January 22, 2009
Motorola targets USD 1.5 billion in cost savings
Motorola has announced plans to cut another 4,000 jobs, mainly at its mobile phone business, where sales continue to drop. The company reported preliminary fourth-quarter results showing phone shipments of 19 million units, down from 25.4 million in Q3 due to weak consumer demand and customer inventory reductions. Around 3,000 jobs will go at the Mobile Devices division, with the remainder at corporate functions and other business units. The staff reduction comes on top of the 3,000 job cuts announced late last year. The current cuts, additional cost-reduction efforts and the measures announced in Q4 are expected to lead to annual cost savings of USD 1.5 billion in 2009, of which USD 1.2 billion at Mobile Devices. Motorola said its Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Home and Networks Mobility businesses continued to perform well in Q4, in a “challenging environment”. Total sales for Q4 are estimated at USD 7.0-7.2 billion, while the net loss will reach USD 0.07-0.08 per share, including 6 cents in charges for restructuring and writing down the Clearwire stake and start-up investments. The company noted that it is still assessing impairment tests for the quarter, which could result in a bigger loss, and the figure dos not include charges for the above restructuring measures. Motorola finished the year with cash of USD 7.4 billion. Full quarterly results will be released on 3 February.
Add comment January 16, 2009
Motorola India axes sales force as handset business ebbs
The economic slowdown in India is hurting deeper. It has taken a heavy toll of Motorola India’s aggressive plans to expand mobile handsets business, where Nokia is the undisputed leader.
More than 200 people Motorola India had hired just a few months ago to drive hard its mobile handsets sales have all been laid off. The company has decided to carry on with its current model of doing business through its distributors.
As for the rationale behind this decision, Motorola India, through an email response sent via its public relations agency, said “while Motorola has a strong global brand as well as a solid balance sheet and cash position, the company is not immune to the currently weak global economy.”
On the lay-offs, the company further said “Motorola continuously reviews its business and the market to ensure that our resources are aligned with market conditions.”
Industry sources said Motorola paid all the laid-off sales personnel two months salary in lieu of notice period. Motorola would have made an announcement if it were laying-off employees in its home market, the US, as a matter of routine, but preferred to give the pink slips to such a large number of employees without making any noise.
Motorola, which was third in terms of market share, has fallen behind Samsung. Nokia is the leader far ahead of other mobile handsets makers with around 60 per cent market share. All others have their market share in single digits. Sony Ericsson has about 8 per cent market share, Samsung 7 per cent and Motorola 6 per cent.
Motorola India said “we are working diligently to improve the profitability of our business and are committed to delivering a strong portfolio of exciting new products in 2009 and beyond.”
Source: http://in.biz.yahoo.com
Add comment January 9, 2009
China issues 3G mobile phone licenses
China assigned third-generation mobile phone licenses Wednesday to three carriers in a long-awaited step that is expected to prompt $41 billion in spending on new equipment.
Licenses were granted to China Mobile Ltd., China Unicom Ltd. and China Telecom Corp., the Ministry of Indutry and Information Technology said. Third-generation, or 3G, technology supports Web surfing, wireless video and other services and the start of service is expected to spur new revenue growth.
The awarding of licenses was delayed while China’s government developed its own technology to compete with two global 3G standards.
The Chinese-developed standard, TD-SCDMA, was assigned to China Mobile, the world’s biggest phone carrier by subscribers. That appeared to be an effort to make sure the new system has the financial and technical backing to succeed.
The two global standards, WCDMA and CDMA-2000, were assigned to China Unicom and China Telecom, respectively.
According to AIKresearch’s databse, China has 650 million mobile phone accounts, and Chinese carriers are expected to spend 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) on new equipment.
Such sales will be important to global suppliers Motorola Inc., Alcatel-Lucent SA, Nokia-Siemens Networks and Ericsson AB as demand elsewhere slumps. But they face competition from fledgling Chinese producers.
Add comment January 7, 2009
Motorola to Cut a Further 400 Jobs
Motorola has announced plans to cut a further 400 jobs on top of the 1,500 cuts announced in October. The earlier termination of approximately 1,500 employees, primarily in the Mobile Devices segment, and will result in pre-tax charges of $104 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The company warned at the time that further job cuts might occur – and has announced in an SEC filing that it will terminate approximately additional 400 employees, resulting in additional pre-tax severance charges of approximately $25 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.These additional actions also include other exit-related activities, including the termination of leases and other contractual commitments and asset impairments, resulting in additional pre-tax charges of approximately $60 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Add comment January 5, 2009
Motorola’s cost-cutting affects top executives
After Motorola announced that they were freezing pension plans and cutting salaries-due to the economic downturn. It now seems co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha –will both voluntarily take 25 percent pay cuts in 2009. Additionally, Brown will skip out on his 2008 bonus while Jha will have his bonus reduced by the total amount of Brown’s forfeited bonus, and will take the remainder as restricted-sale stock instead of cash.
Add comment December 22, 2008
Nokia And Motorola Dominate China’s Smartphone Sales
Apple and RIM may be eating into its share of the smart phone market in developed markets, but Nokia is still king of the smart phone in China, where its third quarter share of sales reached an overwhelmingly dominant 69.3 percent, according to a new research report from China research group CCID Consultancy.
Nokia does especially well, CCID found, as the handset maker has a product offering that spans the low, mid, and high tiers of the market. There was also good news for the embattled Motorola, which has the second largest share of the Chinese smartphone market, cornering 19.9 percent of Q3 sales. Motorola does best with the mid-range of the market. The combined share of the two companies accounts for nearly 90 percent of smartphone sales in China. In third place, was local handset maker Dopod (4.7 percent), followed by Korean electronics firm Samsung (2.5 percent).
As for the actual number of handsets sold, the figure was 7.474 million, staying mostly flat (up 0.6 percent from the second quarter). Sales revenues in the third quarter hit 18.17 billion yuan ($2.65 billion), up 4.5 percent from Q2. Smart phone sales accounted for 19.3 percent of total mobile phone sales in China.
CCID expects China’s smartphone sales to grow moderately, but may see a boost from the launch of Android-based smart phones, which the research group said has caught the attention of many phone manufacturers in China.
Add comment December 18, 2008
