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After two difficult years - in 2009, the mobile market declined for the first time since 2001 - the handset industry appears to be on its feet again, according to research firm Gartner Technology, with sales stabilizing at 340 million units sold in last year's fourth quarter. Some analysts expect the worldwide mobile-subscriber base to almost double...
...well, it will take a red-hot hit to capture those new customers. The 81-year-old American institution, based in Schaumburg, Ill., has a celebrated history: its engineers invented the cell phone and, before that, the walkie-talkie, as well as one of the world's first semiconductors. By the early 2000s, it had also produced the best-selling mobile phone of all time, the StarTAC, the world's first clamshell. It surpassed that feat with the ultra-sleek Razr, introduced in 2004. The Razr transformed the mobile market, and more than 100 million units were sold...
...last year, Motorola emerged as one of the largest shippers of smart phones. That's largely due to Droid, its newest offering for Verizon Wireless. Motorola has also made headway with Cliq, its T-Mobile phone, and early in March it launched BackFlip, the first Android phone for AT&T. About 40% of wireless customers now use smart phones, according to Web research firm Crowd Science, and that portion is growing rapidly. To complement Android, Motorola developed Motoblur, one of the first user interfaces to unite social-networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. "We fundamentally changed our focus...
Long term, Jha will need to consider Motorola's building its own operating software. For now, though, the first goal will be to restore stability to the beleaguered unit, especially as an independent company. One of the first steps will be to explore synergies with the TV-set-top business. "Right now, about 80% of the content people use comes to them in their home," Jha says. "But they increasingly need to carry that content on their cell phones. How can we make that easier...
...sentiment echoed by Aurubis' Drouven. His company also took a hit last year but reported first-quarter operating earnings were $64.6 million, up 50% from the whole previous fiscal year and 2½ times those of the first quarter of 2009. "Our investors want to receive good dividends," he explains. "But our investors are more interested in long-term, stable, reliable returns than in the fast buck...