Droid Sales Boost Motorola Earnings - The Epoch Times

By Antonio Perez
Epoch Times Staff Created: Oct 28, 2010 Last Updated: Oct 28, 2010

A Motorola Droid smart phone running Android. Strong sales of the Droid smartphone pushed Motorola's third-quarter revenues to a robust $5.8 billion. (George Frey/Getty Images)

NEW YORK—Not since the days of the RAZR has Motorola Inc. enjoyed this much success in the cell phone market.
The revival of the company’s phone business starts with its Droid lineup of smartphones. Strong sales of its Droid X and Droid 2 smartphones pushed the company’s third-quarter revenues to a robust $5.8 billion, $400 million higher than the same quarter last year.
Net income for the quarter rose to $109 million, the company said in an earnings release.
Motorola is riding the wave of Android, Google Inc.’s immensely popular smartphone platform, which during the latest quarter, surpassed Apple Inc.’s iPhone as the most popular smartphone platform in the U.S. market.
The company has seen its fortunes turn around since it released its Droid smartphones on the Verizon Wireless platform in the United States. Its cell phone business has struggled to keep up with competitors since its last hit phone, the RAZR series of flip-phones.
“I see the job of transforming this organization is half done,” said Sanjay Jha, CEO of the company’s mobile phone business on a Wall Street analyst conference call on Thursday. “Launching over 20 Smartphone devices and achieving profitability have been major goals for us in the transition of this business.”
Competition from iPhone
A major question looming over Motorola’s future is Apple iPhone’s possible entrance on Verizon’s network. For the past two years, Verizon has been building its lineup of Android devices to compete with rival AT&T Inc., which has been Apple’s sole distributor in the U.S. market.
The technology press has reported over the last several months that Apple may be readying a Verizon-compatible iPhone for a first quarter 2011 release.
Responding to the prospects of a Verizon-based iPhone, Jha said, “We think the DROID franchise is economically very valuable for Verizon, and they will continue to invest and foster the DROID franchise.”
“We will also diversify our portfolio within United States with other operators. We are also focused on diversifying our portfolio outside of the United States,” he continued.


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