Home  ›  News  ›

Motorola's Handset Arm Prepping for Massive Layoffs

Article Comments  35  

Jan 11, 2009, 8:00 PM   by Eric M. Zeman

Phone Scoop has learned that Motorola's handset division is expecting a large round of layoffs as soon as this week, according to someone familiar with Motorola's plans. The layoffs are confirmed to be significant and may amount to 50% of the entire handset operation. Motorola's set top box, networking equipment, and enterprise device businesses would not be affected. Phone Scoop has also learned that Motorola is not planning to have a booth at the CTIA Wireless trade show in April, which is the biggest wireless event in the U.S. Lastly, Motorola is prepared to trim the number of new phones it brings to market down to just a dozen per year, and the only smartphones it will produce will be based on Google's Android platform.

source: Motorola

Related

Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

ibnturab

Jan 12, 2009, 2:11 PM

I don't think anyone is surprised by this

Based on their approach to the cellphone market the last couple of years, this is really not shocking. When a company's R&D sticks their head in the ground and simply turns out the same 'razr' product for 3 continuous years without modifications, then disaster is bound to happen. The razr was supposedly their best product and came out 3rd quarter 2004. During the same period, sony ericsson released their k750 with 2 megapixel camera in a small body 1st quarter 2005. Nokia, released their cool 6630[1.3mpx] which was among their best phones even earlier in 2004. Since then, companies have released n73, k800, and motos best answer to that was the v3i -- a 1 megapixel update. It wasn't until the last quarter of 2008 the moto finally woke up and ...
(continues)
I was surprised by the headline as I thought we were already laid off! I guess gardening leave does not count.

All of the European development sites have been shut. That includes the team in Denmark who made the ZN5. A good phone, I hope it continu...
(continues)
...
icarushorizon

Jan 11, 2009, 9:49 PM

bad news for CDMA customers

If moto drops down to 12 models per year, this will mean way less choices for CDMA customers (non smartphone) 🙄


I mean, right now CDMA is mostly Moto/Samsung/LG, while GSM is all Moto/Samsung/LG/Sony Ericsson/Nokia.


bummer 👿
verizon next RIP
...
semlo

Jan 12, 2009, 2:41 PM

Bad news for Verizon customers

The partnership with cell towers that Verizon had with Motorola has already begun to effect customers, as Motorola has slowly started to sell off towers and property once leased to Verizon from Motorola deeming towers useless.

this could have a real long lasting effect on VERIZON... maybe motorola should ask for a BAIL 🤤 OUT?
semlo said:
The partnership with cell towers that Verizon had with Motorola has already begun to effect customers, as Motorola has slowly started to sell off towers and property once leased to Verizon from Motorola deeming towers u
...
(continues)
...
Teacher30909

Jan 12, 2009, 6:03 PM

Not so fast…… this might be a good thing

As other have stated Motorola has been a leader in cell phone since the start. They made bag phone and then the Startack phones (which people still come into the store and tell me are the best things ever). Before the Razr phone were big and balky things. Moto made them cool. I know the Razr had there problem but they did sell over 50 million of them. Let’s think about that for a moment let’s say that 1% were bad, that would be over 500,000 phones. That’s more then some models sell. The Q did to the PDA that the Razr did to phones, show that a small PDA could work and would sell.

People come into my store and swear by Moto and will not buy anything but. The w755 has been one of are better seller for the last few months.
...
(continues)
I like the positive thinking however it's not realistic. If Motorola is not laying people off based on skill set, but if they are laying people off based on location(s), then they are losing quality people, hence they will not be delivering a simple, ...
(continues)
Slammer

Jan 12, 2009, 11:17 AM

Too Bad

My second cell phone ever was a motorola bag phone back in '88. Then I switched to the brick phone when that came out and then to their first flip. Motorola has always made a rugged phone but they started to lag behind up and coming companies with newer technology and more functionality. I find this all sad. They were a huge force stuck in the past with the future quickly passing them up. Hopefully they can retool and reinvent themselves as a pioneer.
The StarTac was my favorite past phone from them. Except for the antenna breaking a lot, they were a lot of fun.

I loved the brick phone too. It's hard to imagine these days, but there was a time when they were the coolest phones around 😁
...
semlo

Jan 12, 2009, 2:36 PM

Motorola TUNDRA

you can tell they have taken giant steps forward in R&D when you see this handset they just released...

i kid i kid

pull the fork out of em and roll them into the street...

there done!
ouch! they are done! First Sanyo and now Motorola! My two favorites from years ago.
htrony

Jan 11, 2009, 8:58 PM

R.I.P. Motorola Q

I never owned one, but I felt it was a nice phone, or at least installed the razr-esque ideology into PDA phones, then again, perhaps we can expect an android based Moto Q.
motorola phones suck balls anyways... never get a motorola... EVER

razr=worst phone ever made...
Q= second worst phone ever made...
q9= 3rd worst ever made
slvr=retarded...


motorola=slow crappy retarded phones
...
Half the handset business? Not showing up at CTIA?!?! This is the equivalent of someone just getting back from their oncologist and can't tell you what was said because they're crying too much: it's bad news.

Then again, Moto skated by a l...
(continues)
sprintballer

Jan 12, 2009, 2:02 PM

Let's just

hope all 12 aren't Nextels.... 🤣





👀 But this means serious trouble for Nextel...
I'm not sure that's the case. I still expect a large lineup of iDEN phones in 2009.
 
 
Page  1  of 1

Subscribe to news & reviews with RSS Follow @phonescoop on Threads Follow @phonescoop on Mastodon Phone Scoop on Facebook Follow on Instagram

 

Playwire

All content Copyright 2001-2024 Phone Factor, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Content on this site may not be copied or republished without formal permission.