Motorola
Encyclopedia
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational
telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois
, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility
and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009. Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spun off.
Motorola designed and sold wireless network
infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base station
s and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products included set-top box
es, digital video recorder
s, and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television
. Its business and government customers consisted mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems used to build private networks and public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra
. These businesses (except for set-top box
es and cable modem
s) are now part of Motorola Solutions.
Motorola's wireless telephone handset division was a pioneer in cellular phones. Known as the Personal Communication Sector (PCS) prior to 2004, it pioneered the flip phone with the MicroTAC, and the clam phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s, and it enjoyed a resurgence with the RAZR in the mid-2000s before losing significant market share. Lately it has focused on smartphones using Google
's open-source Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use the newest version of Google's open source OS, Android 2.0, was released on November 2, 2009 as the Motorola Droid
(the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone). The handset division, (along with cable set-top box
es and cable modem
s) has since then been spun off into the independent Motorola Mobility
.
Motorola started in Chicago
, Illinois
as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (at 847 West Harrison Street) in 1928, with its first product being a battery eliminator
. In 1930 Galvin Manufacturing Corporation introduced the Motorola radio, one of the first commercially successful car radios. Company founder Paul V. Galvin created the brand name Motorola for the car radio -- linking "motor" (for motorcar) with "ola" (which implied sound). Thus the Motorola brand meant sound in motion. The name Motorola was adopted in 1930, and the word has been used as a trademark since the 1930s.
Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator
for radios, through the first walkie-talkie
in the world in 1940, defense
electronics, cellular
infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. In the same year, the company built its research and development program with Dan Noble
, a pioneer in FM
radio and semiconductor technologies joined the company as director of research.
In 1943, Motorola went public and in 1947, the name changed to its present name. At this time, Motorola's main business was producing and selling televisions and radios. Motorola produced the hand-held AM SCR-536
radio during World War II
which was vital to allied communication.
In 1946 (October) - first "car phone" - Motorola communications equipment carried the first calls on Illinois Bell Telephone Company's new car radiotelephone service in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
In 1952, Motorola opened its first international subsidiary in Toronto
, Canada to produce radios and televisions. In 1953, Motorola established the Motorola Foundation to support leading universities in the United States.
In 1955, years after Motorola started its research and development laboratory in Phoenix
, Arizona to research new solid-state technology, Motorola introduced the world's first commercial high-power germanium
-based transistor
. The present "batwing" logo was also introduced in 1955 (having been created by award-winning Chicago graphic designer Morton Goldsholl in late 1954).
Beginning in 1958 with Explorer 1, Motorola provided radio equipment for most NASA
space-flights for decades including during the 1969 moon landing. A year later, it established a subsidiary to conduct licensing and manufacturing for international markets.
In 1960, Motorola introduced the world's first "large-screen" (19-inch), transistorized, cordless portable television.
In 1963, Motorola, which had very successfully begun making televisions in 1947 introduced the world's first truly rectangular color TV. The tube, developed in a joint venture with National Video Corporation picture tube
quickly became the industry standard
.
In 1964, Motorola opened its first company Research and Development branch out side of the United States, in Israel under the management of Moses Basin.
In 1969, Neil Armstrong
spoke the famous words "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" from the Moon
on a Motorola transceiver.
In 1973, Motorola Demonstrates Portable Telephone to be available for public use by 1976.
In 1974, Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based parent company of Panasonic
.
In 1976, Motorola moved to its present headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois.
In September 1983, the firm made history when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) approved the DynaTAC 8000X telephone, the world's first commercial cellular device. By 1998, cellphones accounted for two thirds of Motorola's gross revenue. The company was also strong in semiconductor
technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. In particular, it is well known for the 6800 family and 68000 family of microprocessor
s used in Atari ST
, Commodore Amiga
, Color Computer
, and Apple
Macintosh personal computers. The PowerPC
family was developed with IBM and in a partnership with Apple (known as the AIM alliance
). Motorola also has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite
systems, digital
cable
boxes and modems.
In 1986, Motorola invented the Six Sigma
quality improvement process. This became a global standard. In 1990, General Instrument Corporation, which was later acquired by Motorola, proposed the first all-digital HDTV standard. In the same year, the company introduced the Bravo numeric pager which became the world's best-selling pager.
In 1991, Motorola demonstrated the world's first working-prototype digital cellular system and phones using GSM standard in Hanover
, Germany. In 1994, Motorola introduced the world's first commercial digital radio system that combined paging, data and cellular communications and voice dispatch in a single radio network and handset. In 1995 Motorola introduced the world's first two-way pager
which allowed users to receive text messages and e-mail and reply with a standard response.
In 1998, Motorola was overtaken by Nokia
as the world's biggest seller of mobile phone handsets.
On September 15, 1999, Motorola announced it would buy General Instrument
in an $11 billion stock swap. General Instrument had long been the No. 1 cable TV equipment provider, supplying cable operators with end-to-end hybrid fiber coax cable solutions. This meant that GI offers all cable TV transmission network components from the head-end to the fiber optic transmission nodes to the cable set-top boxes, now at the availability of Motorola.
In June 2000, Motorola and Cisco
supplied the world's first commercial GPRS cellular network to BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom. The world's first GPRS cell phone was also developed by Motorola.
In 2002, Motorola introduced the world's first wireless cable modem
gateway
which combined a high-speed cable modem router with an ethernet switch and wireless home gateway.
In 2003, Motorola introduced the world's first handset to combine a Linux
operating system
and Java
technology with "full PDA
functionality".
In June 2006, Motorola acquired the world-class software platform (AJAR
) developed by the British company TTP Communications plc.
In 2006, the firm announced a music subscription service named iRadio. The technology came after a break in a partnership with Apple Computer
(which in 2005 had produced an iTunes
compatible cell phone ROKR E1, and most recently, mid 2007, its own iPhone
). iRadio has many similarities with existing satellite radio services (such as Sirius
and XM Radio) by offering live streams of commercial-free music content. Unlike satellite services, however, iRadio content will be downloaded via a broadband internet connection. As of 2008, iRadio has not been commercially released and no further information is available.
In 2007, Motorola acquired Symbol Technologies, Inc. to provide products and systems for enterprise mobility solutions, including rugged mobile computing, advanced data capture and radio frequency identification (RFID).
January 2011 Motorola Splits into two different companies. Motorola Solutions in blue based in Schaumburg Illinois and would concentrate on police technologies, radios, and commercial needs. Motorola Mobility in red based in Libertyville would be the mobile handset producer.
In August 2011, Google announced that it will purchase Motorola Mobility for about $12.5 billion.
On November 17, 2011, Motorola Mobility stockholders “voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger with Google Inc”.
Motorola creates numerous products for use by the government, public safety officials, business installments, and the general public. These products include cell phones, laptops, computer processors, and radio communication devices. The Motorola RAZR line
has sold over 120 million units bringing the company to the number two mobile phone slot in 2005.
Since the 1950s, used Motorola radio equipment has been popular with amateur radio
("ham") operators. Known as "Ma Batwings," Motorola has provided little to no support to hobbyists, who keep using these radios for years or even decades after they were taken out of production.
Divisional Products:
. The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale. Also that month, analyst Mark McKechnie from American Technology Research said that Motorola "would be lucky to fetch $500 million" for selling its handset business. Analyst Richard Windsor said that Motorola might have to pay someone to take the division off the company's hands, and that Motorola may even exit the handset market altogether. Its global market share has been on the decline; from 18.4% of the market in 2007 the company had a share of just 6.0% by Q1 2009, but at last Motorola scored a profit of $26 million in Q2 and showed an increase of 12% in stocks for the first time after losses in many quarters.
During the second quarter of 2010, the company reported a profit of $162 million, which compared very favorably to the $26 million earned for the same period last year. Its Mobile Devices division reported, for the first time in years, earnings of $87 million.
brand of electronics. This division was acquired by Matsushita, already well-known under its Panasonic
brand in North America, where it was looking to expand.
business August 4, 1999, raising for Motorola about $1.1 billion.
Motorola manufactured two satellite phone
handsets for this network – the 9500 and 9505 as well as transceiver units. Some of these are still in production by an OEM but sold under the Iridium brand.
. The business deal closed September 2001. Thus GD Decision Systems was formed (and later merged with General Dynamics C4 Systems) from Motorola's Integrated Information Systems Group.
.
On October 16, 2003, Motorola announced that it would spin off its Semiconductor Products Sector into a separate company called Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.. The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange
on July 16 of the following year.
. Motorola’s automotive unit had annual sales of $1.6 billion (€1.33 billion) and employed 4,500. The divisions products included telematics
systems used for vehicle navigation and safety services, engine and transmission control electronics, vehicle control, electronics and sensors used in steering, braking, and power doors and power window
s.
In October, 2008, Motorola agreed to sell its Biometrics business to Safran
, a French defense firm. Motorola's biometric business unit was headquartered in Anaheim, Calif. The deal closed in April, 2009. The unit became part of Sagem Morpho, which was renamed MorphoTrak.
and Motorola Broadband & Mobility Solutions. Originally it was expected that this action would be approved by regulatory bodies and complete by mid-2009, but the split was delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008–2009 extreme economic downturn.
On February 11, 2010, Motorola announced its separation into two independent, publicly traded companies, effective Q1 2011. The official split occurred at around 12:00 pm EST on January 4, 2011. The two new companies are called Motorola Mobility
and Motorola Solutions . Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spunoff.
MOTOROLA MOBILITY DEAL BY GOOGLE
In fact, according to the filing, Google senior vice president Andy Rubin first reached out to Motorola Mobility in early July 2011 to discuss the purchase by some of Google’s competitors of the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks Corp., and to assess its potential impact on the Android ecosystem
Google boosted its offer for Motorola Mobility by 33% in a single day in early August, even though Motorola wasn’t soliciting competing bids. The aggressive bidding by Google showed that the search giant was under considerable pressure to beef up its patent portfolio to protect its promising Android franchise from a growing number of legal challenges.
According to the filing, Google and Motorola began discussions about Motorola’s patent portfolio in early July, as well as the “intellectual property litigation and the potential impact of such litigation on the Android ecosystem.”
Although the two companies discussed the possibility of an acquisition after the initial contact by Mr. Rubin, it was only after Motorola pushed back on the idea of patent sale that the acquisition talks picked up steam.
The turning point came during a meeting on July 6. At the meeting, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha discussed the protection of the Android ecosystem with Google senior vice president Nikesh Arora, and during that talk Jha told Arora that “it could be problematic for Motorola Mobility to continue to as a stand-alone entity if it sold a large portion of its patent portfolio.”
In connection with these discussions, the two companies signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement that allowed Google to do due diligence on the company’s patent portfolio.
On July 21 and July 23, Jha met with Arora and Rubin to discuss strategic options between the two companies, agreeing to continue to discuss a potential sale.
On July 27, Motorola pushed the sale idea even harder when it requested that Google expand its confidentiality agreement to cover due diligence relating to a possible acquisition of Motorola.
Google got the message. The next day, Mr. Jha, Mr. Arora and Google chief legal officer David Drummond met to discuss the terms of an acquisition of the whole company. Arora and Drummond talked price for the first time, telling Jha that Google was considering an offer “in the range in the high $20s or low $30s.”
On August 1, Google sent Motorola a letter offering the company $30 a share, and requested a response by August 4. The same day Motorola hired Qatalyst Partners and Centerview as its advisors.
On August 5, Motorola, advised by Qatalyst Partners, rejected the offer and suggested $43.50. Qatalyst Partners suggested to Drummond that Google increase its price to $43.50 a share.
On Aug. 9, Arora came back with an offer of $37 a share over the phone to Jha. Jha told Arora that he would be prepared to recommend that its board consider accepting an offer of $40.50 or higher.
Later that day, Google responded with a new offer of $40 a share.
On August 14, Motorola director Daniel Ninivaggi told the board that Carl Icahn, a large shareholder of the company who had urged Motorola to explore alternatives to its patent portfolio, would support the proposed merger without a voting agreement.
On the morning of August 15, the two companies entered into a merger agreement at the offered price of $40.
On November 17, Motorola Mobility stockholders approved the proposed merger with Google Inc.
quality system was developed at Motorola even though it became best known through its use by General Electric
. It was created by engineer Bill Smith
, under the direction of Bob Galvin
(son of founder Paul Galvin) when he was running the company. Motorola University
is one of many places that provide Six Sigma training.
(TCE) contamination that took place in Scottsdale, Arizona
. The malfunction led to a ban on the use of water that lasted three days and affected almost 5000 people in the area. Motorola was found to be the main source of the TCE, an industrial solvent that is thought to cause cancer. The TCE contamination was caused by a faulty blower on an air stripping tower that was used to take TCE from the water, and Motorola has attributed the situation to operator error.
Motorola ranks 6th out of 18 leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace
’s Guide to Greener Electronics of October 2010 (the company shares 6th place with its competitors Panasonic and Sony).
Motorola scores relatively well on the chemicals criteria and has a goal to eliminate PVC vinyl plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), though only in mobile devices and not in all its products introduced after 2010, despite the fact that Sony Ericsson and Nokia are already there. All of its mobile phones are now PVC-free and it has two PVC and BFR-free mobile phones, the A45 ECO and the GRASP; all chargers are also free from PVC and BFRs.
The company is also increasing the proportion of recycled materials that is used in its products. For example the housing for the MOTO™ W233 Renew and MOTOCUBO A45 Eco mobile phones contains plastic from post-consumer recycled water cooler bottles.
According to the company’s information all of Motorola’s newly designed chargers meet the current Energy Star
requirements and exceed the requirements for standby/ no-load modes by at least 67%.
club Motherwell F.C.
for 11 years. This long term deal ended after the company started to reduce its manufacturing operations in Scotland. The club also sponsored Livingston F.C.
between 1998–2002. The company also had a plant on the edge of the town
. However, this closed down at the same time as their sponsorship with the club
ended. The South Stand at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium, was named after the company, during their time of sponsorship. The company also sponsored a cycling team that counted Lance Armstrong amongst its members. Motorola is also a large sponsor of Danica Patrick
, David Beckham
, and Fergie. It also Sponsored The Richmond Football Club
in the Australian Football League
from 2004–2007. Motorola sponsored São Paulo FC from 2000–2001. Motorola also sponsored Club Bolívar
since 2008.
Robby Gordon was sponsored by Motorola in 2007 and 2008. Motorola is on Gordon's car in NASCAR 07
and NASCAR 08
.
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois
Schaumburg, Illinois
Schaumburg is a city located in Cook County in northeastern Illinois. A common misspelling of the city name is Schaumberg, a spelling which persists on some modern maps. Schaumburg is located just under northwest of downtown Chicago and approximately northwest of O'Hare International Airport. As...
, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. , formerly the Mobile Devices division of Motorola Inc. until January 2011, is a communications corporation headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Motorola's networks division pioneered the flip phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s...
and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009. Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spun off.
Motorola designed and sold wireless network
Wireless network
Wireless network refers to any type of computer network that is not connected by cables of any kind. It is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and enterprise installations avoid the costly process of introducing cables into a building, or as a connection between various equipment...
infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base station
Base station
The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying and wireless communications.- Land surveying :In the context of external land surveying, a base station is a GPS receiver at an accurately-known fixed location which is used to derive correction information for nearby portable GPS...
s and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products included set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
es, digital video recorder
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
s, and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. Its business and government customers consisted mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems used to build private networks and public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra
Dimetra
DIMETRA IP is the brand name under which Motorola markets its implementation of the TETRA digital radio communications standard.-Overview:Tetra is a scalable radio network technology typically used by emergency services and other Government agencies...
. These businesses (except for set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
es and cable modem
Cable modem
A cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a HFC and RFoG infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high...
s) are now part of Motorola Solutions.
Motorola's wireless telephone handset division was a pioneer in cellular phones. Known as the Personal Communication Sector (PCS) prior to 2004, it pioneered the flip phone with the MicroTAC, and the clam phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s, and it enjoyed a resurgence with the RAZR in the mid-2000s before losing significant market share. Lately it has focused on smartphones using Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's open-source Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use the newest version of Google's open source OS, Android 2.0, was released on November 2, 2009 as the Motorola Droid
Motorola Droid
The Motorola Droid is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed by Motorola, which runs Google's Android operating system. The Droid had been publicized under the codenames Sholes and Tao and the model number A855...
(the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone). The handset division, (along with cable set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
es and cable modem
Cable modem
A cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a HFC and RFoG infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high...
s) has since then been spun off into the independent Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. , formerly the Mobile Devices division of Motorola Inc. until January 2011, is a communications corporation headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Motorola's networks division pioneered the flip phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s...
.
History
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (at 847 West Harrison Street) in 1928, with its first product being a battery eliminator
Battery eliminator
A battery eliminator is a device powered by an electrical source other than a battery, which then converts the source to a suitable DC voltage that may be used by a second device designed to be powered by batteries....
. In 1930 Galvin Manufacturing Corporation introduced the Motorola radio, one of the first commercially successful car radios. Company founder Paul V. Galvin created the brand name Motorola for the car radio -- linking "motor" (for motorcar) with "ola" (which implied sound). Thus the Motorola brand meant sound in motion. The name Motorola was adopted in 1930, and the word has been used as a trademark since the 1930s.
Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator
Battery eliminator
A battery eliminator is a device powered by an electrical source other than a battery, which then converts the source to a suitable DC voltage that may be used by a second device designed to be powered by batteries....
for radios, through the first walkie-talkie
Walkie-talkie
A walkie-talkie is a hand-held, portable, two-way radio transceiver. Its development during the Second World War has been variously credited to Donald L. Hings, radio engineer Alfred J. Gross, and engineering teams at Motorola...
in the world in 1940, defense
Defense (military)
Defense has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defense implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armor, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy...
electronics, cellular
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. In the same year, the company built its research and development program with Dan Noble
Daniel E. Noble
Daniel Earl Noble was an American engineer, and Executive Vice Chairman of the Board emeritus of Motorola,who is known for the design and installation of the nation's first statewide two-way radio...
, a pioneer in FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
radio and semiconductor technologies joined the company as director of research.
In 1943, Motorola went public and in 1947, the name changed to its present name. At this time, Motorola's main business was producing and selling televisions and radios. Motorola produced the hand-held AM SCR-536
SCR-536
The SCR-536 was a hand-held radio transceiver used by US Signal Corps in World War II. It is popularly referred to as a walkie talkie although it was originally designated a "handie talkie".- History :...
radio during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
which was vital to allied communication.
In 1946 (October) - first "car phone" - Motorola communications equipment carried the first calls on Illinois Bell Telephone Company's new car radiotelephone service in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
In 1952, Motorola opened its first international subsidiary in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada to produce radios and televisions. In 1953, Motorola established the Motorola Foundation to support leading universities in the United States.
In 1955, years after Motorola started its research and development laboratory in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Arizona to research new solid-state technology, Motorola introduced the world's first commercial high-power germanium
Germanium
Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors tin and silicon. The isolated element is a semiconductor, with an appearance most similar to elemental silicon....
-based transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
. The present "batwing" logo was also introduced in 1955 (having been created by award-winning Chicago graphic designer Morton Goldsholl in late 1954).
Beginning in 1958 with Explorer 1, Motorola provided radio equipment for most NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
space-flights for decades including during the 1969 moon landing. A year later, it established a subsidiary to conduct licensing and manufacturing for international markets.
In 1960, Motorola introduced the world's first "large-screen" (19-inch), transistorized, cordless portable television.
In 1963, Motorola, which had very successfully begun making televisions in 1947 introduced the world's first truly rectangular color TV. The tube, developed in a joint venture with National Video Corporation picture tube
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
quickly became the industry standard
De facto standard
A de facto standard is a custom, convention, product, or system that has achieved a dominant position by public acceptance or market forces...
.
In 1964, Motorola opened its first company Research and Development branch out side of the United States, in Israel under the management of Moses Basin.
In 1969, Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
spoke the famous words "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" from the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
on a Motorola transceiver.
In 1973, Motorola Demonstrates Portable Telephone to be available for public use by 1976.
In 1974, Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based parent company of Panasonic
Panasonic
Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...
.
In 1976, Motorola moved to its present headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois.
In September 1983, the firm made history when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) approved the DynaTAC 8000X telephone, the world's first commercial cellular device. By 1998, cellphones accounted for two thirds of Motorola's gross revenue. The company was also strong in semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. In particular, it is well known for the 6800 family and 68000 family of microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
s used in Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, Commodore Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Color Computer
TRS-80 Color Computer
The Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer was a home computer launched in 1980. It was one of the earliest of the first generation of computers marketed for home use in English-speaking markets...
, and Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
Macintosh personal computers. The PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
family was developed with IBM and in a partnership with Apple (known as the AIM alliance
AIM alliance
The AIM alliance was an alliance formed on October 2, 1991, between Apple Inc. , IBM, and Motorola to create a new computing standard based on the PowerPC architecture. The stated goal of the alliance was to challenge the dominant Wintel computing platform with a new computer design and a...
). Motorola also has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
systems, digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
boxes and modems.
In 1986, Motorola invented the Six Sigma
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
quality improvement process. This became a global standard. In 1990, General Instrument Corporation, which was later acquired by Motorola, proposed the first all-digital HDTV standard. In the same year, the company introduced the Bravo numeric pager which became the world's best-selling pager.
In 1991, Motorola demonstrated the world's first working-prototype digital cellular system and phones using GSM standard in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Germany. In 1994, Motorola introduced the world's first commercial digital radio system that combined paging, data and cellular communications and voice dispatch in a single radio network and handset. In 1995 Motorola introduced the world's first two-way pager
Pager
A pager is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then requested to call...
which allowed users to receive text messages and e-mail and reply with a standard response.
In 1998, Motorola was overtaken by Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
as the world's biggest seller of mobile phone handsets.
On September 15, 1999, Motorola announced it would buy General Instrument
General Instrument
General Instrument was an electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, PA specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. The company was active until 1997, when it split into which was later acquired by Vishay Intertechnology in 2001, CommScope and NextLevel Systems General...
in an $11 billion stock swap. General Instrument had long been the No. 1 cable TV equipment provider, supplying cable operators with end-to-end hybrid fiber coax cable solutions. This meant that GI offers all cable TV transmission network components from the head-end to the fiber optic transmission nodes to the cable set-top boxes, now at the availability of Motorola.
In June 2000, Motorola and Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
supplied the world's first commercial GPRS cellular network to BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom. The world's first GPRS cell phone was also developed by Motorola.
In 2002, Motorola introduced the world's first wireless cable modem
Cable modem
A cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a HFC and RFoG infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high...
gateway
Gateway (telecommunications)
In telecommunications, the term gateway has the following meaning:*In a communications network, a network node equipped for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols....
which combined a high-speed cable modem router with an ethernet switch and wireless home gateway.
In 2003, Motorola introduced the world's first handset to combine a Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
and Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
technology with "full PDA
PDA
A PDA is most commonly a Personal digital assistant, also known as a Personal data assistant, a mobile electronic device.PDA may also refer to:In science, medicine and technology:...
functionality".
In June 2006, Motorola acquired the world-class software platform (AJAR
AJAR (applications software platform)
AJAR is a Motorola applications software platform for mass-market feature phones, designed to help players across the mobile industry develop highly customised, fully featured handsets rapidly and cost-effectively.- History :...
) developed by the British company TTP Communications plc.
In 2006, the firm announced a music subscription service named iRadio. The technology came after a break in a partnership with Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
(which in 2005 had produced an iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
compatible cell phone ROKR E1, and most recently, mid 2007, its own iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
). iRadio has many similarities with existing satellite radio services (such as Sirius
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
and XM Radio) by offering live streams of commercial-free music content. Unlike satellite services, however, iRadio content will be downloaded via a broadband internet connection. As of 2008, iRadio has not been commercially released and no further information is available.
In 2007, Motorola acquired Symbol Technologies, Inc. to provide products and systems for enterprise mobility solutions, including rugged mobile computing, advanced data capture and radio frequency identification (RFID).
January 2011 Motorola Splits into two different companies. Motorola Solutions in blue based in Schaumburg Illinois and would concentrate on police technologies, radios, and commercial needs. Motorola Mobility in red based in Libertyville would be the mobile handset producer.
In August 2011, Google announced that it will purchase Motorola Mobility for about $12.5 billion.
On November 17, 2011, Motorola Mobility stockholders “voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger with Google Inc”.
Motorola creates numerous products for use by the government, public safety officials, business installments, and the general public. These products include cell phones, laptops, computer processors, and radio communication devices. The Motorola RAZR line
Motorola RAZR V3
Motorola RAZR is a series of clamshell mobile phones by Motorola, and is one of the series in the 4LTR line. They were first developed in July 2003 and were released in the market in the third quarter of 2004....
has sold over 120 million units bringing the company to the number two mobile phone slot in 2005.
Since the 1950s, used Motorola radio equipment has been popular with amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
("ham") operators. Known as "Ma Batwings," Motorola has provided little to no support to hobbyists, who keep using these radios for years or even decades after they were taken out of production.
Divisional Products:
- Enterprise Mobility Solutions: Headquarters located in Schaumburg, IllinoisSchaumburg, IllinoisSchaumburg is a city located in Cook County in northeastern Illinois. A common misspelling of the city name is Schaumberg, a spelling which persists on some modern maps. Schaumburg is located just under northwest of downtown Chicago and approximately northwest of O'Hare International Airport. As...
; comprises communications offered to government and public safety sectors and enterprise mobility business. Motorola develops analog and digital two-way radio, voice and data communications products and systems, mobile computing, advanced data capture, wireless infrastructure and RFID solutions to customers worldwide.
- Home & Networks Mobility: Headquarters located in Arlington Heights, IllinoisArlington Heights, IllinoisArlington Heights is a village in Cook and Lake counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about 25 miles northwest of the city's downtown. The population was 75,101 at the 2010 census....
; produces end-to-end systems that facilitate uninterrupted access to digital entertainment, information and communications services via wired and wireless mediums. Motorola develops digital video system solutions, interactive set-top devices, voice and data modems for digital subscriber line and cable networks, broadband access systems for cable and satellite television operators, and also wireline carriers and wireless service providers.
- Mobile Devices: Headquarters located in Libertyville, IllinoisLibertyville, IllinoisLibertyville is an affluent northern suburb of Chicago in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located west of Lake Michigan on the Des Plaines River. The 2000 census population was 20,742; the 2005 estimate was 21,760...
; currently the least prosperous arm of the firm; designs wireless handsets, but also licenses much of its intellectual properties. This includes cellular and wireless systems and as well as integrated applications and BluetoothBluetoothBluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
accessories.
Finances
Motorola's handset division recorded a loss of US$1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, while the company as a whole earned $100 million during that quarter. It lost several key executives to rivals, and the web site TrustedReviews called the company's products repetitive and uninnovative. Motorola laid off 3,500 workers in January 2008, followed by a further 4,000 job cuts in June and another 20% cut of its research division a few days later. In July 2008 a large number of executives left Motorola to work on Apple Inc.'s iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
. The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale. Also that month, analyst Mark McKechnie from American Technology Research said that Motorola "would be lucky to fetch $500 million" for selling its handset business. Analyst Richard Windsor said that Motorola might have to pay someone to take the division off the company's hands, and that Motorola may even exit the handset market altogether. Its global market share has been on the decline; from 18.4% of the market in 2007 the company had a share of just 6.0% by Q1 2009, but at last Motorola scored a profit of $26 million in Q2 and showed an increase of 12% in stocks for the first time after losses in many quarters.
During the second quarter of 2010, the company reported a profit of $162 million, which compared very favorably to the $26 million earned for the same period last year. Its Mobile Devices division reported, for the first time in years, earnings of $87 million.
Television and radio manufacturing
In 1974, Motorola divested itself of its television and radio-manufacturing division, which included the popular QuasarQuasar (brand)
Quasar is a North American brand of electronics, first used by Motorola in 1967 for a model line of transistorized color televisions. These televisions were well-known for containing all serviceable parts in a drawer beneath the television's cabinet...
brand of electronics. This division was acquired by Matsushita, already well-known under its Panasonic
Panasonic
Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...
brand in North America, where it was looking to expand.
Iridium
Motorola developed the first truly global communication network using a set of 66 satellites. The business ambitions behind this project and the need for raising venture capital to fund the project led to the creation of the Iridium company in the late 1990s. While the technology was proven to work, Iridium failed to attract sufficient customers and it filed for bankruptcy in 1999. Obligations to Motorola and loss of expected revenue caused Motorola to spin off the ON Semiconductor (ONNN)ON Semiconductor
ON Semiconductor , is a semiconductors supplier company. Products include power and signal management, logic, discrete and custom devices for automotive, communications, computing, consumer, industrial, LED lighting, medical, military/aerospace and power applications...
business August 4, 1999, raising for Motorola about $1.1 billion.
Motorola manufactured two satellite phone
Satellite phone
A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
handsets for this network – the 9500 and 9505 as well as transceiver units. Some of these are still in production by an OEM but sold under the Iridium brand.
Government and defense
Further declines in business during 2000 and 2001 caused Motorola to spin off its government and defense business to General DynamicsGeneral Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...
. The business deal closed September 2001. Thus GD Decision Systems was formed (and later merged with General Dynamics C4 Systems) from Motorola's Integrated Information Systems Group.
Semiconductor
On August 4, 1999 Motorola, Inc.'s Semiconductor Components Group, manufacturing Motorola's discrete, standard analog and standard logic devices was spun-off, recapitalized and established as an independent company named ON SemiconductorON Semiconductor
ON Semiconductor , is a semiconductors supplier company. Products include power and signal management, logic, discrete and custom devices for automotive, communications, computing, consumer, industrial, LED lighting, medical, military/aerospace and power applications...
.
On October 16, 2003, Motorola announced that it would spin off its Semiconductor Products Sector into a separate company called Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.. The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
on July 16 of the following year.
Automotive
In July, 2006 Motorola completed the sale of its automotive business to Continental AGContinental AG
Continental AG, internally often called Conti for short, is a worldwide leading German manufacturer of tires, brake systems, vehicle stability control systems, engine injection systems, tachographs and other parts for the automotive and transport industries. The company is based in Hanover, Germany...
. Motorola’s automotive unit had annual sales of $1.6 billion (€1.33 billion) and employed 4,500. The divisions products included telematics
Telematics
Telematics typically is any integrated use of telecommunications and informatics, also known as ICT...
systems used for vehicle navigation and safety services, engine and transmission control electronics, vehicle control, electronics and sensors used in steering, braking, and power doors and power window
Power window
Power windows or electric windows as well as electric or power window lifts are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by depressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a hand-turned crank handle.- History :Packard introduced the first power windows in the 1940 Packard...
s.
Biometrics
In 2000, Motorola acquired Printrak International Inc. for $160 million. In doing so, Motorola not only acquired computer aided dispatch and related software, but also acquired Automated fingerprint identification system software.In October, 2008, Motorola agreed to sell its Biometrics business to Safran
SAFRAN
Safran is a French conglomerate involved in defense, aerospace propulsion and equipment, and security. It is the result of a merger between the propulsion and aerospace equipment group SNECMA and the defense conglomerate SAGEM. Its headquarters are located in Paris.The name Safran, literally...
, a French defense firm. Motorola's biometric business unit was headquartered in Anaheim, Calif. The deal closed in April, 2009. The unit became part of Sagem Morpho, which was renamed MorphoTrak.
Split
On March 26, 2008, Motorola's board of directors approved a split into two different publicly traded companies. This came after talk of selling the handset division to another corporation. These new companies would comprise the business units of the current Motorola Mobile DevicesMotorola Mobile Devices
Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. , formerly the Mobile Devices division of Motorola Inc. until January 2011, is a communications corporation headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Motorola's networks division pioneered the flip phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s...
and Motorola Broadband & Mobility Solutions. Originally it was expected that this action would be approved by regulatory bodies and complete by mid-2009, but the split was delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008–2009 extreme economic downturn.
On February 11, 2010, Motorola announced its separation into two independent, publicly traded companies, effective Q1 2011. The official split occurred at around 12:00 pm EST on January 4, 2011. The two new companies are called Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. , formerly the Mobile Devices division of Motorola Inc. until January 2011, is a communications corporation headquartered in Libertyville, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Motorola's networks division pioneered the flip phone with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s...
and Motorola Solutions . Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spunoff.
MOTOROLA MOBILITY DEAL BY GOOGLE
In fact, according to the filing, Google senior vice president Andy Rubin first reached out to Motorola Mobility in early July 2011 to discuss the purchase by some of Google’s competitors of the patent portfolio of Nortel Networks Corp., and to assess its potential impact on the Android ecosystem
Google boosted its offer for Motorola Mobility by 33% in a single day in early August, even though Motorola wasn’t soliciting competing bids. The aggressive bidding by Google showed that the search giant was under considerable pressure to beef up its patent portfolio to protect its promising Android franchise from a growing number of legal challenges.
According to the filing, Google and Motorola began discussions about Motorola’s patent portfolio in early July, as well as the “intellectual property litigation and the potential impact of such litigation on the Android ecosystem.”
Although the two companies discussed the possibility of an acquisition after the initial contact by Mr. Rubin, it was only after Motorola pushed back on the idea of patent sale that the acquisition talks picked up steam.
The turning point came during a meeting on July 6. At the meeting, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha discussed the protection of the Android ecosystem with Google senior vice president Nikesh Arora, and during that talk Jha told Arora that “it could be problematic for Motorola Mobility to continue to as a stand-alone entity if it sold a large portion of its patent portfolio.”
In connection with these discussions, the two companies signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement that allowed Google to do due diligence on the company’s patent portfolio.
On July 21 and July 23, Jha met with Arora and Rubin to discuss strategic options between the two companies, agreeing to continue to discuss a potential sale.
On July 27, Motorola pushed the sale idea even harder when it requested that Google expand its confidentiality agreement to cover due diligence relating to a possible acquisition of Motorola.
Google got the message. The next day, Mr. Jha, Mr. Arora and Google chief legal officer David Drummond met to discuss the terms of an acquisition of the whole company. Arora and Drummond talked price for the first time, telling Jha that Google was considering an offer “in the range in the high $20s or low $30s.”
On August 1, Google sent Motorola a letter offering the company $30 a share, and requested a response by August 4. The same day Motorola hired Qatalyst Partners and Centerview as its advisors.
On August 5, Motorola, advised by Qatalyst Partners, rejected the offer and suggested $43.50. Qatalyst Partners suggested to Drummond that Google increase its price to $43.50 a share.
On Aug. 9, Arora came back with an offer of $37 a share over the phone to Jha. Jha told Arora that he would be prepared to recommend that its board consider accepting an offer of $40.50 or higher.
Later that day, Google responded with a new offer of $40 a share.
On August 14, Motorola director Daniel Ninivaggi told the board that Carl Icahn, a large shareholder of the company who had urged Motorola to explore alternatives to its patent portfolio, would support the proposed merger without a voting agreement.
On the morning of August 15, the two companies entered into a merger agreement at the offered price of $40.
On November 17, Motorola Mobility stockholders approved the proposed merger with Google Inc.
Quality systems
The Six SigmaSix Sigma
Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
quality system was developed at Motorola even though it became best known through its use by General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. It was created by engineer Bill Smith
Bill Smith (Motorola engineer)
Bill Smith is the "Father of Six Sigma". Born in Brooklyn, New York, Smith graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and studied at the University of Minnesota School of Management...
, under the direction of Bob Galvin
Bob Galvin
Robert William "Bob" Galvin was a US executive. He was the son of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin, and served as the CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1986.-Motorola career:...
(son of founder Paul Galvin) when he was running the company. Motorola University
Motorola University
Motorola University began as an internal program available to Motorola employees which offered courses on a wide range of topics meant to continually improve their technical skills. With the proliferation of Six Sigma, which was originally developed at Motorola, Motorola University began offering...
is one of many places that provide Six Sigma training.
Environmental record
Motorola, Inc., along with the Arizona Water Co. has been identified as the sources of trichloroethyleneTrichloroethylene
The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a chlorinated hydrocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which is commonly known as chlorothene.The IUPAC name is...
(TCE) contamination that took place in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
. The malfunction led to a ban on the use of water that lasted three days and affected almost 5000 people in the area. Motorola was found to be the main source of the TCE, an industrial solvent that is thought to cause cancer. The TCE contamination was caused by a faulty blower on an air stripping tower that was used to take TCE from the water, and Motorola has attributed the situation to operator error.
Motorola ranks 6th out of 18 leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
’s Guide to Greener Electronics of October 2010 (the company shares 6th place with its competitors Panasonic and Sony).
Motorola scores relatively well on the chemicals criteria and has a goal to eliminate PVC vinyl plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), though only in mobile devices and not in all its products introduced after 2010, despite the fact that Sony Ericsson and Nokia are already there. All of its mobile phones are now PVC-free and it has two PVC and BFR-free mobile phones, the A45 ECO and the GRASP; all chargers are also free from PVC and BFRs.
The company is also increasing the proportion of recycled materials that is used in its products. For example the housing for the MOTO™ W233 Renew and MOTOCUBO A45 Eco mobile phones contains plastic from post-consumer recycled water cooler bottles.
According to the company’s information all of Motorola’s newly designed chargers meet the current Energy Star
Energy Star
Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products originated in the United States of America. It was first created as a United States government program during the early 1990s, but Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted...
requirements and exceed the requirements for standby/ no-load modes by at least 67%.
Sponsorships
Motorola sponsored Scottish Premier LeagueScottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
club Motherwell F.C.
Motherwell F.C.
Motherwell Football & Athletic Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. The club compete in the Scottish Premier League and are one of only seven teams to have remained in this league since it was founded in 1998...
for 11 years. This long term deal ended after the company started to reduce its manufacturing operations in Scotland. The club also sponsored Livingston F.C.
Livingston F.C.
Livingston Football Club is a Scottish association football club based in Livingston, West Lothian. The club currently plays in the Scottish Football League First Division.The club was founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, a works team...
between 1998–2002. The company also had a plant on the edge of the town
Livingston, Scotland
Livingston is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It is the fourth post-WWII new town to be built in Scotland, designated in 1962. It is about 15 miles west of Edinburgh and 30 miles east of Glasgow, and is bordered by the towns of Broxburn to the northeast and Bathgate to the northwest.Livingston...
. However, this closed down at the same time as their sponsorship with the club
Livingston F.C.
Livingston Football Club is a Scottish association football club based in Livingston, West Lothian. The club currently plays in the Scottish Football League First Division.The club was founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, a works team...
ended. The South Stand at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium, was named after the company, during their time of sponsorship. The company also sponsored a cycling team that counted Lance Armstrong amongst its members. Motorola is also a large sponsor of Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...
, David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, and Fergie. It also Sponsored The Richmond Football Club
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
in the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
from 2004–2007. Motorola sponsored São Paulo FC from 2000–2001. Motorola also sponsored Club Bolívar
Club Bolívar
Club Bolívar, a football team from Bolivia, was founded in La Paz on April 12, 1925, with the name Atletico Bolívar Literario Musical later changed to "Club Atlético Bolívar"...
since 2008.
Robby Gordon was sponsored by Motorola in 2007 and 2008. Motorola is on Gordon's car in NASCAR 07
NASCAR 07
NASCAR 07 is the tenth installment of the EA Sports' NASCAR video game series. It was developed by EA Tiburon and released on September 6, 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PlayStation Portable. This was the last NASCAR edition to be released exclusively on sixth generation consoles.The NTSC...
and NASCAR 08
NASCAR 08
NASCAR 08 is the eleventh installment of the EA Sports NASCAR series. It was developed by EA Tiburon and released for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the earliest that EA has released a NASCAR game...
.
See also
- List of companies of the United States
- List of electronics companies
Further reading
Phd diss.- http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/09/14/for-google-the-motorola-deal-was-all-about-the-patents-at-first
External links
- motorola.com, company's official website