Once upon a time, Google was run like a playground; it was the sort of place where you'd get points for attending the Burning Man hippie drug fest. Under new CEO Larry Page, we're seeing a more ruthless Google — the sort of company perfect comfortable turning its business partners into creepy sock puppets today.
Apple has the iPhone; Google, the G1. Where's the Yahoophone? We hear new CEO Carol Bartz nixed the Yahoo One Phone, a project with Motorola and AT&T, after her daughter got a look at it.
Just the news you were waiting for: The Aura, Motorola's brand new $2,000 cell phone, went on sale today. Three tungsten-carbon-carbide-coated main gears! A scratch-resistant, 62-carat, grade 1 sapphire crystal display! Say no more! [NYT]
We knew there would be last-minute dirty tricks in this campaign — but who knew they would include attempting to turn the powerful Apple fanboy vote? iPhone Savior has revealed, with suspicious timing, that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama uses a desperately uncool Motorola Razr, not the iPhone spotted in…
This is the layoff that matters. Motorola has already conceded to a demand by investment overlord Carl Icahn to spin off its money-losing mobile phone unit. Today's news is no surprise, but still: Motorola will ditch about 3,000 people through several agonizing waves of layoffs. Co-CEO Greg Brown is telling the press…
"When my wife switches, then you'll know," says Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha, whose spouse carries an LG Voyager and refuses to trade it for a Moto. Mrs. Steve Jobs? She carries an iPhone. The company is cutting back from six operating systems to three: Windows Mobile, Moto's own P2K, and Google's open-source Android.…
Where's the debt crisis in Silicon Valley? The knock-on effects are all too real, but frozen credit markets have had little direct effect on business operations, aside from possibly scotching the debt-fueled sales of Alltel and Nextel. That's because technology companies are run by paranoid sorts who like to keep…
After a rocky iPhone 3G launch, Apple's store operations have returned to a model of efficiency. One of Steve Jobs's secrets: roving sales clerks who use mobile devices to ring up orders anywhere in the store, not just at the cash register. Ah, but which devices? Motorola MC75 handhelds running Microsoft's Windows…
Sony, Samsung, Motorola and Hitachi have banded together to adopt Amimon's ready-and-shipping wireless HDTV chips for next year's products. Because the products will have no cable jacks, the new gear will sport a conspicuous logo that indicates it will connect to other devices with the same logo. If you want to play…
Motorola has sued Mike Fenger, the former head of Motorola's mobile gadgets for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Fenger allegedly broke a two-year noncompete agreement by jumping to Apple to run global sales for the's iPhone in March. “He cannot perform his duties for Apple without inevitably disclosing…
In explaining Carl Icahn's raid on Yahoo, pundits bring up his efforts to shake up tech and media giants like Motorola and Time Warner. But I think there's a better analogy in Icahn's past: TWA. Icahn's attempt to gain a board seat or broker a new deal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft will not send Yahoo soaring; if left…
Motorola first quarter revenue fell 21 percent to $7.45 billion as the company's share of the global handset market fell to 9.5 percent. [WSJ]
In what amounts to a public job application to Motorola CEO Greg Brown, Numair Faraz, former assistant to Razr creator Geoffrey Frost, slams the company and former CEO Ed Zander for astounding ineptitude. Catch the full story over at Gizmodo or see our 100-word version below.
Motorola, mortally wounded, is spinning off its handset business in slow motion. CEO Greg Brown expects the deal to go through next year. There's no Razr on the horizon to spur sales, thanks to former CEO Ed Zander's overreliance on the model. In San Francisco cofeeshops, the popular theory is that Apple's iPhone…
Investor Carl Icahn has sued Motorola to force the company to release internal documents about its cell-phone handset business. Icahn is pursuing a proxy fight to install new directors on Motorola's board and force the company to spin off or sell its handset business. Motorola calls the lawsuit a "distraction." [FT]
Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) filed suit against Motorola on February 16, claiming Motorola overcharges for licenses to use its patented technology. RIM calls these technologies "industry standards" unworthy of patent protection. Motorola disagrees and filed its own patent-infringement suit against RIM. […
CEO Greg Brown is taking personal charge of the company's troubled cell-phone business. One wonders where he got that idea. Next thing we know, Motorola's board will be basing his pay on the number of cell phones he sells. Oh, what's that — they already do?
What's Motorola minus the cell phones? One might as well speak of Ford without the cars, or Starbucks without the coffee. That unfathomable equation is on the drawing board, apparently, as the company faces pressure to improve its performance. The Wall Street Journal reports that Motorola is considering selling or…
Motorola stock has fallen to a four-year low after a bad earnings report yesterday. The company reported earnings of 4 cents a share on $9.65 billion in sales. The profit numbers were an 84 percent drop year over year. Additionally, Motorola's market share in mobile handsets continues to decline, down to 13 percent…
