Motorola

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is an American multinational communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

History
Motorola started as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in 1928. The name Motorola was adopted in 1947, but the word had been used as a trademark since the 1930s. Founders Paul Galvin, Joe Galvin, and Sawn Hamme came up with the name Motorola when his company started manufacturing car radios. A number of early companies making phonographs, radios, and other audio equipment in the early 20th century used the suffix "-ola," the most famous being Victrola; RCA made a "radiola"; there was also a company that made jukeboxes called Rock-Ola, and a film editing device called a Moviola. The Motorola prefix "motor-" was chosen because the company's initial focus was in automotive electronics.

Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for radios, through the first walkie-talkie in the world, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. The company was also strong in semiconductor technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. Motorola has been the main supplier for the microprocessors used in Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh and Power Macintosh personal computers. The chip used in the latter 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.


[edit] Spinoffs
Motorola developed the first truly global communication network using a set of 66 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 they 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 for Motorola of about $1.1 Billion.

Further declines in business during 2000 and 2001, caused Motorola to spin 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.

On October 6, 2003, Motorola announced that it would spin off its semiconductor product sector into a separate company called Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.. The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 16th of the following year.

See also: List of Motorola products (including Freescale's semiconductors)


[edit] 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.


[edit] Future
A recent massive turnaround plan has not been executed successfully by CEO Edward Zander. Due to recent layoffs and the spinoff of Freescale Semiconductor, the number of employees working for Motorola has gone from just over 150,000 to approximately 66,000. Motorola has recently been regaining market share in the cellular-phone business from Nokia, Samsung, and others due to stylish new cellular phone designs like the Motorola RAZR V3. The company also unveiled the first phones compatible with Apple Computer's iTunes Store, the Motorola ROKR E1, in September 2005, and the Motorola SLVR in January 2006. Motorola has recently announced its new iRadio music service as a potential substitute for iTunes compatibility, as well as a phone supporting Microsoft's Windows Media format in addition to expanding its product lines with Apple's iTunes, with the new KRZR, SLVR, and RAZR V3i. According to Motorola, they see their cell phones as a media gateway. However, the new MOTOFONE is aimed at entry-level users and developing markets. The future of Motorola remains in doubt.

With the shifting focus of all telecom equipment manufacturers toward services, Motorola formed a unique joint venture company with Wipro. The company name as WMNetServ will provide managed services and professional service to Motorola customers worldwide.[citation needed]

Motorola sold its Automotive Electronics division to Continental in April 2006 and is proceeding with a policy of streamlining its cell phone business, hoping to take the number one spot from Nokia. Some observers[weasel words] suggested that the company's emphasis on market share was responsible for a drop in net earnings late in 2006.

On November 10, 2006, Motorola and Good Technology announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Motorola will acquire privately held Good Technology, a leader in enterprise mobile computing software and service.[1]

On November 14, 2006, Motorola announced it would acquire Netopia, a leader in DSL CPE and subscriber support solutions for broadband carriers.

On December 21, 2006, Motorola announced its acquisition of Tut Systems.[2]

On March 30, 2007, Motorola completed its acquisition of Tut Systems.[3]

On January 9, 2007, Motorola completed its acquisition of Symbol Technologies, Inc. (SBL)[4]

On February 7, 2007, Motorola completed its acquisition of Netopia (NTPA)[5] Netopia mergered into the existing Voice and Data Group with Netopia's CEO, Alan Lefkof, heading up the newly formed Broadband Solutions Group.

Motorola posted a $181 million loss for the first quarter of 2007. Carl Icahn, who owns a 3% stake, began demanding a seat on the board of directors and advocating a share buyback program. Motorola has opposed this ,saying that Icahn is unqualified

Popularity
Motorola has been the largest single provider of radio equipment for public safety use, and this led to eager adoption by the Amateur Radio community. Motorola Handie-Talkies of the 1950s and early 1960s (along with other Motorola radios) were often loaned or donated to ham groups as part of the Civil Defense program, and when new models came, ham radio operators quickly bought older equipment at surplus sales. Recently they have become widely known from their Motorola RAZR V3 cellphone. This popularity continues to this day.