Motorola top seller in North America

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teleguy
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Jun 7, 2005, 2:24 AM

Post #1 of 2 (1135 views)

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Good news for Motorola as it continues to dominate in sales in North America.

North American consumers continue to show distinctive preferences compared to the world market where Nokia is No. 1. However Nokia has been watching as Motorola doubled , then nearly tripled Nokia's market share. Motorola is ahead currently 34% to 12% and no signs of slacking.

What makes Motorola so popular? That can only be answered by you, the Motorola user.

So give us your feedback. Why did you choose Motorola? Would you or are you planning to do it again?

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Motorola on top in North American handset market By Dan Meyer Jun 6, 2005 Despite a slowing overall market, Motorola Inc. strengthened its position as the dominant handset manufacturer in North America during the first quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Motorola's 34.2-percent market share during the quarter was almost double the 17.4 percent garnered by its closest competitor, LG Electronics, and nearly triple the 12.9-percent share posted by No. 4 Nokia Corp.
Strategy Analytics attributed Motorola's strong showing to its well-diversified portfolio-which includes CDMA, GSM and iDEN handsets-and a 15-percent increase in GSM handset sales compared with the first quarter of 2004, when it also led the industry with a 29.6-percent overall market share.

LG also posted strong sales gains for its GSM handsets as well as extended its leadership position in the challenging CDMA handset space due to its close relationship with Verizon Wireless and increasing exposure through Sprint Corp. LG was No. 4 during the first quarter of 2004 with 12-percent market share.
"The fragmented and ultra-competitive CDMA market does not afford any one vendor a lasting dominant share position, but LG's surging performance in GSM shows product and distribution balance is a precursor to leading competitive participation in the U.S. market," noted Chris Ambrosio, director of the wireless device strategies service at Strategy Analytics.
Samsung maintained its No. 3 position in North America and increased its total market share slightly from 16.6 percent during the first quarter of 2004 to 17.1 percent this year. David Kerr, vice president of Strategy Analytics wireless practice, noted Samsung's tepid growth was hampered by a lack of low-end devices, as the company continues to focus on mid- and high-end handsets.
Growth among the top three manufacturers appeared to come at the expense of Nokia, which saw its market share plunge from 20 percent during the first quarter of 2004 to 12.9 percent this year. Strategy Analytics attributed the drop to Nokia losing out in the GSM replacement market to Motorola, Samsung and LG. Nokia can take solace in its industry-leading 33.1-percent worldwide market share at the end of last year.
Kyocera Corp. also posted a year-over-year decline in North American market share, dropping from 8.4 percent in 2004 to 5.1 percent this year. Strategy Analytics noted that the company, which produces only CDMA-based devices, has reached a critical transition point in its operations as it struggles between the much larger top four manufacturers and the also-rans. Kyocera recently announced plans to outsource handset manufacturing to China-based Flextronics International Ltd.
Those also-rans include Sanyo Corp., which has an exclusive arrangement with Sprint in the U.S. market and saw a slight market share increase from 3.4 percent in 2004 to 3.6 percent this year, and Audiovox Corp., which boosted its market share from 2.3 percent to 3.3 percent.
Strategy Analytics added that it expects possible consolidation among the smaller North American handset providers, including Panasonic, NEC and Siemens, which have found the market to be "hugely challenging." Siemens has already announced plans to spin off its handset business from its more profitable infrastructure operations.

teleguy
Enthusiast

Jul 23, 2005, 11:13 AM

Post #2 of 2 (1026 views)

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"What are we gonna do today Brain?"

"Same thing we always do,Pinky. Try to take over the world."

Motorola, encouraged by dominance in the North American market, lays out it's strategy to overtake Nokia as #1 in the world.

From your point of view as a Motorola user, what are some aspects of Motorola's phone that could or could not make it happen?

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Motorola CEO: Targeting Top Handset Maker Nokia NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- After strengthening its number-two position in handsets, Motorola Inc. (MOT) is setting its sights on the top player, Nokia Corp. (NOK), said Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Zander.

Motorola is laying out its strategy with the goal of overtaking Nokia, Zander said, according to a transcript of a late Tuesday conference call to discuss the company's second-quarter results.

Motorola's mobile division "knocked the cover off the ball" with handset sales, Zander said. The company shipped nearly 34 million cell phones, a quarterly record for the company.

The Schaumburg, Ill., communications equipment maker reported second-quarter net income of $933 million, or 37 cents a share, reversing a loss of $203 million, or 8 cents a share, from a year ago.

Motorola's current results were aided by 12 cents a share in one-time items, while the year-earlier results were weighed down by a per-share loss of 33 cents related to its spin off of FreeScale Semiconductor Inc. (FSL), in addition to a own one-time gain of 8 cents a share.

Revenue, meanwhile, rose 17% to $8.83 billion from $7.54 billion last year.

Zander believes growth opportunity remains, and he expects gross margins to continue to rise.

Second-quarter margins fell to 32.6% from 34.5% from a year ago. Chief Financial Officer David W. Devonshire said the margins were down because of newly launched products that hadn't shipped in volume.

Motorola also forecasted third-quarter sales to be between $8.9 billion and $9.1 billion. Earnings from continuing operations are expected to be 27 cents to 29 cents a share.

On average, analysts were expecting earnings of 25 cents a share, and revenue of $8.58 billion.

Overall, the handset market looks healthy, CEO Zander said. He added that the company will likely introduce phones with higher price points in the second half and next year.

Ron Garriques, who heads up the company's mobile devices business said he sees multiple iconic products, not just the single RAZR phone, in the third and fourth quarters.

"That's how I see operating earnings expanding in the second half," he said.

While Motorola holds a strong position with phones using the GSM wireless standard, it remains weak with a rival standard, CDMA. Garriques said Motorola said "its product roadmap for CDMA hasn't been strong."

In the U.S., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corp. (FON) use CDMA technology. Garriques said Motorola has made some in-roads with a Verizon phone that uses next generation technology, and he expects more changes in the second half.

In addition to the growing handset market, he sees opportunity in laying out infrastructure and cell phones for the third generation and fourth generation networks. He expects the mobile business to show year-over-year growth in operating earnings and revenue.

In the other segments, networks, government and enterprise mobility, and connected home systems, Zander also expects operating earnings and revenue growth.

Zander also noted the company is working with Verizon Communications (VZ) to help build out the fiber network and Internet-based video services.

The company's automotive electronics business continues to be weak, but improved over the first quarter. It returned to profitability due to steps taken in the first quarter to cut expenses, Zander said.

While the networks segment grew overall, there was some weakness in China. The company believes it's a result of hesitation in spending until China doles out its 3G licenses.