Motorola announces major rethink

Handset giant puts more emphasis on selling technology rather than phones...

Motorola has announced a change in strategy that will see the mobile phone handset giant marketing its proprietary technology to other handset manufacturers. Motorola will now approach its former rivals in the handset field with its 2.5G and 3G technologies and according to the Financial Times expects to announce its first deals in the next few months. Previously Motorola technology, produced by its own in-house semiconductor division, had only been used in Motorola branded handsets but with more and more rival firms outsourcing the production of their handsets Motorola said this change is necessary in an evolving market. Slowing sales of handsets is also likely to be a motivation behind the restructuring of its business model to place more emphasis on selling technology to businesses rather than selling handsets to consumers. According to the FT Motorola predicts a change in the handset market that will see it develop like the PC market - with common technology being sold in a variety of branded packages, differing more in terms of design and distribution than technology. Motorola now hopes it can gain a large market share in providing that common technology.