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Motorola

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Motorola, Inc.
FormerlyGalvin Manufacturing Corporation
Company typePublic (NYSE: MOT)
IndustryTelecommunications
FoundedSeptember 25, 1928
FounderPaul Galvin Edit this on Wikidata
Headquarters1303 East Algonquin Road,[1] Schaumburg, Illinois, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Greg Brown (President & Co-CEO)[2]
Sanjay Jha (Co-CEO)[3]
ProductsMobile phones
Smartphones
Two-way radios
Networking systems
Cable television systems
Wireless Broadband Networks
RFID Systems
Mobile Telephone Infrastructure
RevenueDecrease $22.044 billion (2009)[4]
Decrease $-158 million (2009)[4]
Decrease $-51 million (2009)[4]
Total assetsDecrease $25.603 billion (2009)[4]
Total equityDecrease $9.775 billion (2009)[4]
Number of employees
53,000 (2009)[5]
WebsiteMotorola.com

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is an American, multinational, Fortune 100,[7] 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. The first phone to use the newest version of Google's open source OS, Android 2.0, was released on November 2, 2009 as the Motorola Droid (the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone).

History

Local branch in Glostrup, Denmark.

Motorola started in Chicago, Illinois as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (at 847 West Harrison Street)[8] in 1928, with its first product being a battery eliminator. Paul Galvin purchased the patents to the automotive radio and acquired the rights to the trade name Motorola from William Lear. The name Motorola was adopted in 1930, and the word has been used as a trademark since the 1930s.[9]

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 Dan 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, it was designed by Zeke Ziner in late 1954. 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.[10]

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 U.S. Federal Communications Commission (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.[11] The company was also strong in semiconductor technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. In particular, it is well known for the 68000 family of 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.[10]

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.[12]

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

Main article: List of Motorola products

Motorola creates numerous products for use by 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:[13]

  • Enterprise Mobility Solutions: Headquarters, located in Schaumburg, Illinois, 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 Arlington Heights, Illinois, 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, Illinois, 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.

Finances

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.[14] It lost several key executives to rivals[15] and the web site TrustedReviews has called the company's products repetitive and uninnovative.[16] Motorola laid off 3,500 workers in January 2008[17], followed by a further 4,000 job cuts in June[18] and another 20% cut of its research division a few days later.[19] In July 2008, a large number of executives left Motorola to work on Apple Inc.'s iPhone.[20] The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale.[21] 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.[22] 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. During the second quarter of 2010, the company reported 162 million US dollars of profit, which compares very favorably to the 26 millions earned for the same period last year. Its Mobile Devices division reported, for the first time in years, earnings of 87 million dollars.[23]

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

Main article: Iridium (satellite)

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 August 4, 1999 Motorola, Inc.'s Semiconductor Components Group, manufacturing Motorola's discrete, standard analog and standard logic devices was spun-off, recapitalized and established as an independent company named ON 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 was indefinitely delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008-2009 extreme economic downturn.[24]

On February 11, 2010, Motorola announced its separation into two independent, publicly traded companies[25], effective Q1 2011.

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.[26]

Motorola ranks 4th out of 18 leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics of May 2010. [27] It has not yet removed toxic vinyl plastic (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from all its products lagging behind competitors such as Apple Inc.[28] All Motorola mobile phones launched since 2009 are PVC-free and in 2009, Motorola launched its first mobile phone that is free of PVC and BFRs, the MOTOCUBO A45 ECO.[29]

All of Motorola’s newly designed chargers meet the current Energy Star requirements and exceed the requirements for standby/ no-load modes by at least 67%.[30]

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 club also sponsored Livingston F.C. between 1998-2002. The company also had a plant on the edge of the town. However, this closed down at the same time as their sponsorship with the club ended. The South Stand at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium, was named after the company, during their time of sponsorship. 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.

Robby Gordon was sponsored by Motorola in 2007 and 2008. Motorola is on Robby's car in NASCAR 07 and NASCAR 08

Ratings from interest groups

Motorola received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2004,[31] 2005,[32] and 2006,[33] starting in the third year of the report. Also in 2009.

References

  1. ^ Motorola Office Locations, Retrieved 2010-07-26.
  2. ^ Greg Brown, President and Co-CEO
  3. ^ Silver, Sara (2008-08-05). "Motorola Lures Jha to Head Cellphone Unit". The Wall Street Journal. pp. B1. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-2FO3VV/616932042x0x275710/30b0d3a9-7524-49d4-85ae-6443c6d89fbb/2008_Form_10-K.pdf
  5. ^ http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-2FO3VV/917020769x0x359291/AD7222B4-C7FE-490B-882F-FFACDA370B7B/MOT_2009_Annual_Report_on_Form_10-K_Wrap.pdf
  6. ^ "Company Profile for Motorola Inc (MOT)". Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  7. ^ CNN http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/snapshots/288.html. Retrieved May 13, 2010. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ^ Mahon, Morgan E. A Flick of the Switch 1930–1950 (Antiques Electronics Supply, 1990), p.111.
  9. ^ "Music in Motion: The First Motorola Brand Car Radio" (Document). Motorola Inc. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help) (see "Birth of the Motorola Brand")
  10. ^ a b "Motorola gets in the game". CNN. September 28, 2009. Retrieved May 13, 2010. [dead link]
  11. ^ John F. Mitchell, Time Magazine Milestones section, July 6, 2009, p.17
  12. ^ Motorola acquires TTPCom AJAR Software Platform
  13. ^ http://www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=8892
  14. ^ Motorola profit slides on mobile woes; shares hit 5-year low - MarketWatch
  15. ^ Motorola CTO Richard Nottenburg takes off - Engadget
  16. ^ Motorola Phones Sales Crash 38 Per Cent - TrustedReviews
  17. ^ Motorola to lay off 3,500 - Engadget Mobile
  18. ^ Motorola cuts another 4,000 jobs - Engadget Mobile
  19. ^ slashing 20% of its research division
  20. ^ Motorola sues former employee turned Apple exec for ganking trade secrets - Engadget
  21. ^ Motorola insider tells all about the fall of a technology icon - Engadget
  22. ^ Olga Kharif and Roger O. Crockett (2008-07-10). "Motorola's Market Share Mess". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  23. ^ http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_ends_fiscal_q2_with_healthy_profit-news-1846.php
  24. ^ Reardon, M.: "As losses return, Motorola delays its split", "CNET News", 2008-10-30, retrieved on 2009-04-26
  25. ^ http://mediacenter.motorola.com/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=12429&NewsAreaID=2
  26. ^ http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/05/09/20080509sr-pvwater0510-ON.html The Arizona Republic Retrieved May 15, 2008
  27. ^ "Motorola – Material content". Greenpeace International. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  28. ^ "Which companies are phasing out PVC and BFRs". Greenpeace International. Retrieved 2010-08-24. {{cite web}}: Text "Greenpeace International" ignored (help)
  29. ^ "Motorola – Material content". Motorola. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  30. ^ "Motorola – Energy efficiency and renewable energy sources". Motorola. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  31. ^ "Corporate Equality Index: 2004 Corporate Statements". hrc.org. 2004. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  32. ^ "Corporate Equality Index: 2005 Corporate Statements". hrc.org. 2005. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
  33. ^ "Corporate Equality Index 2006" (PDF). hrc.org. 2006. Retrieved 2007-12-14.

Further reading

  • Gart, Jason H (2006.). "Electronics and Aerospace Industry in Cold War Arizona, 1945-1968: Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft". Arizona State University. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Phd diss.
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