Motorola exploring future options for its Mobile Device business

When Motorola say "separation", do they mean just reorganising the company's structure, or are they talking about actually selling off their mobile phone business?

I think the interesting part of this statement is that they haven't defined what "separation" means.

I can't imagine they really want to sell off their handset business as it is their most profitable sector, however it is desperately over-due for a shakeup.

"Separation" implies setting up a separate company, not selling the unit. It is surprising to me as well though: while Motorola may not be doing very well lately, it is certainly doing well enough. Maybe they hope that by giving the unit more independence they can whip up innovation.

Didn't they separate their chip business just before they sold it off?

Dunno, but separating a business does not necessarily mean selling it off. These two are separate actions.

Oh yes of course, it's just fascinating to speculate on what Moto will actually do.

The statement seems slightly unclear, and they do actually say they haven't made up their mind yet.

I think you could take it to mean most things. Either spinning or into a separate company or selling it altogether.

I think the most likely would be spinning it off rather than selling. But as krisse said Freescale was later sold IIRC.

Of course there's no guarantees - it seems likely something will happen, but it could still stay within Motorola.

One other possibility no one's mentioned: a joint venture with another company.

When Sony and Ericsson had problems selling enough phones, they both spun off their phone divisions and merged them into Sony Ericsson, which is jointly owned by Sony and Ericsson. The parent companies are still separate, but they've pooled their resources as far as phone making is concerned.

Perhaps Motorola is looking for another smaller phone maker to partner with?

Could we be about to see Motorola-LG? Motorola-Lenovo? Motorola-BenQ? Motorola-Samsung? Or even the unlikely Motorola-Sony-Ericsson?

If you wanted to get conspiracy theorist about this, you could point out that Moto recently entered into a joint venture with Sony Ericsson called UIQ, although that only covers smartphone interfaces, not actual phones.

Two of the companies you have named (Lenovo and BenQ) are Chinese. These companies are unlikely to create any partnerships beyond producing devices on order, because this is where they excel.

Three other companies (Samsung, LG, and SE) appear to be doing well enough without Motorola's participation. Any of them may be willing to buy Motorola's business (if only to get a brand and remove a rival), but a partnership appears unlikely.

I agree that none of these partnership options are likely. The most probable outcome is that Moto will just reorganise themselves.

However, if we wanted to speculate on a partnership, both Lenovo and BenQ do actually make handsets under their own brand as well as for order. Perhaps Moto would be a good partner for getting their brand known in the West (if the phones were called Moto-BenQ or whatever)?

Benq tried & failed to assimilate Siemens mobile division, I doubt they are ready financially to do anything too dramatic.

Lenovo has just announced that it is selling its mobile business - http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200802/20080201/article_347514.htm

ttfn

krisse wrote:both Lenovo and BenQ do actually make handsets under their own brand as well as for order.

Lenovo has just announced that it is selling its mobile business

Well, that does pretty much kill the idea of a tie-up with Moto. 😊

These guys can produce all right. They can significantly cut costs. They just can't design a decent product that stands out.

Wouldn't that make a joint venture with Moto more appealling though? Motorola clearly can design, the RAZR was a success on design alone.