Motorola sees handsets growth in China
A "World Without Wires" is the
slogan of Motorola's latest campaign, and the
company is undoubtedly shifting its focus from
traditional markets to newer, more exciting ones.
Better known for its semiconductor components
and communications equipment (such as paging
and two-way radio systems), Motorola is all set
to deliver mobile solutions for niche and general
needs. Being responsible for external and internal
communications, public affairs and issues and
crisis management, Steve Lyons has a front-row
view of this new trend. Tell us about Motorola's part in developing new wireless technology.
GPRS and 3G will be a big part of Motorola's
future. And that future is now.
Motorola is committed to being a leader in bringing wireless to the Internet. GPRS, and later on 3G, will be key to enabling the wireless Internet by providing consumers fast, easy, "always on" access.
In GPRS, Motorola is already one of the leaders in providing GPRS end-to-end solutions - both infrastructure and handsets - to operators in Asia-Pacific and Europe. We're also working with entrepreneurs and software developers at Universities to develop m-commerce content and services in national languages.
In 3G, Motorola is actively developing infrastructure and handsets in conjunction with our customers.
How is Asia different from the rest of the world?
With Asia's huge population and low per capita
telephony density, the market potential in this
region for wireless services is the largest in
the world. Japan has already proved the exciting
potential for wireless services with NTT DoCoMo's
i-Mode. And the growth of cellular subscribers
in China shows the huge magnitude of scale. From
250M cellular subscribers in 2000, Asia is forecasted
to have over 400 million subscribers by 2004.
Motorola intends to continue our leadership in wireless through continuing to provide innovative products and services which consumers want and our customers need.
What's the outlook for Motorola Electronics
in the wireless mobile arena?
[Our outlook is] very positive. In both infrastructure
and handsets, we're one of the leaders in the
region and the world. We intend to maintain and
strengthen that position. In fact, we're the
market leader in handsets in China, which is
the second largest cellular market in the world.
What can we expect from Motorola in the next few months?
We'll be introducing a number of exciting new products and services to our customers and consumer this year. However, for competitive reasons, it's not appropriate for us to talk about them until they're introduced.
In terms of infrastructure, operating costs and mobile take-up, how does the Asia Pacific region compare with the rest of the world?
As I've indicated, this region is the fastest growing area of the world. I also believe it's the most innovative as exemplified by Japan's NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode service and their 3G network this year.
Another example of the region's technology leadership is Motorola's A6288 GPRS WAP-enabled combination cell phone and PDA which features Chinese handwriting recognition. It will provide fast, easy, "always-on" Internet access for millions of consumers who don't have access to keyboards. This product was designed, developed and produced totally in China for the Chinese market. Motorola is using this same handwriting recognition platform throughout Europe.
More about Top 20 Telecoms' Outlook.