Motorola

Motorola, Inc.

Type	Public (NYSE: MOT)
Founded	1928
Headquarters	Schaumburg, Illinois, United States
Key people	[1] Greg Brown, President and Co-CEO [2] Sanjay Jha, Co-CEO[3]
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	Embedded systems Microprocessors Mobile phones Two-way radios Networking systems Satellite phones
Revenue	▼US$ 30.146 billion USD (2008)[4]
Operating income	▼ US$ -2.391 billion USD (2008)[4]
Net income	▼ US$ -4.244 billion USD (2008)[4]
Employees	64,000 (2008)[4]
Website	www.motorola.com

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is an American, multinational, Fortune 100,^[5] telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is a manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets, and also designs and sells wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products include 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 consist mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems used to build private networks and public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra. Motorola's handset division is now focusing on smartphones using Google's open-source Android mobile operating system, including the first phones to ship using Android release 2.0 ("Eclair").

History

Local branch in Glostrup, Denmark.

Motorola started in Chicago, Illinois as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation' in 1928 with its first product being a battery eliminator. The name Motorola was adopted in 1930, and the word has been used as a trademark since the 1930s. Founders Paul Galvin and Joseph Galvin came up with the name Motorola when the company started manufacturing car radios in 1930; the name is a combination of "motor" and the suffix "ola" that was used at the time in various product names, including "Victrola."^[6].

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 Daniel Noble, a pioneer in FM radio and semiconductor technologies joined the company as director of research.

In 1943, Motorola went public and in 1947, the name changed to its present name. The present logo was introduced in 1955. At this time, Motorola's main business was producing and selling televisions and radios.

In 1952, Motorola opened its first international subsidiary in Toronto, Canada to produce radios and televisions. In 1953, Motorola established the Motorola Foundation to support leading universities in the United States.

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.

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.

In 1960, Motorola introduced the world's first "large-screen" (19-inch), transistorized, cordless portable television.

In 1963, Motorola, which had very successfully begun making televisions in 1947 introduced the world's first truly rectangular color TV picture tube which quickly became the industry standard.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong spoke the famous words "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" from the Moon on a Motorola Radio. [1]

In 1974, Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based parent company of Panasonic.

In 1976, Motorola moved to its present headquarters in Schaumburg.

In September 1983, the firm made history when the FCC approved the DynaTAC 8000X telephone, the world's first-only commercial cellular device. By 1998, cellphones accounted for two-third's of Motorola's gross revenue.^[7] 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 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. [2]

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 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 2006, Motorola acquired the world-class software platform (AJAR) developed by the British company TTP Communications plc.^[8]

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

Products

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

Divisional Products:^[9]

• Enterprise Mobility Solutions: Headquarters, located in Schaumburg, IL, 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 Horsham, PA, 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, IL, currently the least prosperous arm of the firm, 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.

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

Finances

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008)

Motorola's handset division recorded a loss of $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, while the company as a whole earned $100 million during that quarter.^[10] It lost several key executives to rivals^[11] and the web site TrustedReviews has called the company's products repetitive and uninnovative.^[12] Motorola laid off 3,500 workers in January 2008^[13], followed by a further 4,000 job cuts in June^[14] and another 20% cut of its research division a few days later.^[15] In July 2008, a large number of executives left Motorola to work on Apple Inc.'s iPhone.^[16] The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale.^[17] In July 2008, analyst Mark McKechnie from American Technology Research said that Motorola "would be lucky to fetch $500 million" for selling its handset business and analyst Richard Windsor said that Motorola might have to pay someone to take the division off the company and that the company may even exit the handset market altogether.^[18] Its global market share has been on the decline; from 18.4% of the market in 2007, it had a share of just 6.0% by Q1 2009 but at last Motorola scored a profit of $26 million in Q2 and showed increase of 12% in stocks first time after lose in many quarters.

Spin-offs

Television and radio manufacturing

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

Iridium

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 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 for Motorola 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

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.

Semiconductor

On October 16, 2003, 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

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 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 October, 2008, Motorola agreed to sell its Biometrics business to Safran, a French defense firm. Motorola's biometric business unit, headquartered in Anaheim, Calif. The deal is expected to close in Q1, 2009.

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 has since been indefinitely delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008-2009 extreme economic downturn.^[19]

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.^[20]

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 a cycling team that counted Lance Armstrong amongst its members. Motorola is also a large sponsor of Danica Patrick, David Beckham, and Fergie. It also Sponsored The Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League from 2004-2007.

Ratings from interest groups

Motorola received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2004,^[21] 2005,^[22] and 2006,^[23] starting in the third year of the report. Also in 2009.

Further reading

• The history of Motorola is examined in Gart, Jason H. "Electronics and Aerospace Industry in Cold War Arizona, 1945-1968: Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft." Phd diss., Arizona State University, 2006.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Motorola

• Motorola Official Website
• Motorolafans community site
• The Motorola Fan Club