Ed Zander

Letter from a Moto Insider: How Stupid Execs Ran Moto Into the Ground

Geoffrey Frost was Motorola's Chief Marketing Officer, and the RAZR was his baby. Last month, we got a letter from his former personal adviser, Numair Faraz, written to current Motorola CEO Greg Brown about how a cabal of inept, out-of-touch executives more worried about their golf score than the company drove once mighty Moto into the ground. It got lost in our bloated inbox, but with Moto splitting up today, Engadget reminded us we had it. For anyone wondering what the hell happened to Moto, with its endless string of RAZR knockoffs and crappy handsets, it's a must-read:

I've always considered it Motorola's dirty little secret that the strategy for their entire profit machine was run by the company's CMO—not the rest of the company's executives, who are as inept now as they have ever been. Many close to Geoffrey believed Ed Zander worked him to death, putting the pressure of the fate of the company in his hands.

That's just a touch. More »

3:15 PM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By matt buchanan
20,357 views, 80 comments

Latest by bobvilla: Who is the handset division being sold to, and what happens to it from here? Is this going the way of IBM selling their PC division to Lenovo? Or is the division going to be sold and liquidated? Maybe more »

moto blues

Moto Knocked Out of Handset Business?

From the bestselling cellphone in history to the most ignominious departure of a CEO not related to any criminal behavior, Motorola's had a hell of a slide, but still, the latest speculation comes as a punch to the chin. Richard Windsor, an analyst with a firm called Nomura International, says that Moto may exit the handset business. On one hand, it could sell the division to Chinese investors, but on the other hand, not even the Chinese really know how to solve Moto's problems. What happened, Motorola? Seriously, what in hell happened? [MarketWatch]

8:34 AM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By Wilson Rothman
8,974 views, 53 comments

Latest by Collins1: when sony ericsson released the W880 and people realised they could have a slim phone that's GOOD, moto got worried. more »

cellphones

Zander No Moto: The RAZR King Steps Down

Ed Zander—the celebrity CEO who made Motorola's RAZR an Apple-like sensation then somehow spoiled it with all them spinoffs—will step down on Jan. 1. Does this mean we won't get the POOPR, the SHTR or the TFSU? Does this mean that Motorola might recover from its slip to third place in the world cell phone sales? I know I've asked this before, but would the RAZR2 be a cooler phone if it was named something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT? Here's the real question:
More »

12:18 PM on Fri Nov 30 2007
By Wilson Rothman
2,877 views, 13 comments

Latest by lovemiiphoneandapples: i've had and have a whole bunch of motorola phones from boost to nextel to att the razr and i liked them all but i got to admit my iphone is killer towards the motorola phones. more »

business

Motorola's Revenues Down 4 Quarters in a Row, May See Early Termination Fees For Ed Zander

Motorola's revenues were down 19% from a year earlier, reporting a second quarter loss of $28 million. You'd think making the same phone 19 times would guarantee big money, but we guess not! As we said around the RAZR2 launch, the phone is just another RAZR design evolution, not something drastically different enough to make a new flagship phone for Moto. More »

1:23 PM on Thu Jul 19 2007
By Jason Chen
1,719 views, 5 comments

history lesson

iPhone May Sell Fast, But Not RAZR Fast

It's no wonder Steve Jobs got into the phone business. He introduced the iPod in October 2001, and by April 2006, he had sold over 50 million of them. Now, 50 million units in less than five years is good, but Motorola sold 50 million RAZRs in less than two. It took Motorola months to reach 750,000 in RAZR sales, a feat Apple may achieve by the end of the iPhone's first week. Does this mean Apple will beat Motorola's cellphone sales speed record? More »

11:10 AM on Tue Jul 3 2007
By Wilson Rothman
23,032 views, 44 comments

Latest by Penchum: Word out here is iPhones are sitting on shelves. Very few willing and wanting a 2 year contract. Lust time is over, sales dropping and no one cares. The Razr on the other hand fits in front pocket without making it more »

we're in!

Motorola May 07 Mystery Phone Unveiling

We're here in a nice old building in New York's Chelsea district to check out the unveiling of Motorola's new phones. First up was Ming touchscreen clamshell. Then Q smartphone refresh: the Q8 and 3G-capable Q9. Next was ROKR Z6 music phone and Moto Z8 entertainment phone. Coup de grace: RAZR 2. More »

12:57 PM on Tue May 15 2007
By Wilson Rothman
20,094 views, 45 comments