Nokia Siemens Buys Motorola's Networking Arm
It might not be the same as splitting itself into two independent companies, but it's definitely a split for Motorola.
Two years ago, Motorola announced that it would spin off its mobile division creating a company separate from its infrastructure division. At the time, it was largely believed that this was an effort to cut off the floundering mobile arm and in doing so, prevent it from harming the rest of the company.
Though Motorola has seen significant success since that announcement in 2008, especially with its Droid line of smartphones, the company reiterated its intentions to split in February of this year, and said this move would be completed by the end of the year.
Today InformationWeek reports that, having failed to split itself in two, Motorola has instead opted to sell most of its network infrastructure unit. It was today announced that Nokia Siemens Networks acquired the majority of Moto's mobile network infrastructure unit for $1.2 billion.
Nokia Siemens said Monday that it hopes the acquisition will strengthen its position in the market.
"First and foremost, this deal is about customers," the New York Times quotes Rajeev Suri, chief executive of Nokia Siemens, as saying during a conference call on Monday with reporters and investors. "We expect to gain an incumbent position with many new customers and strengthen our position with others."
Suri went on to say that the buy would make partnerships with China Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Clearwire possible.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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dEAne Like hp to palm, but nokia acquiring motorola's networking arm will put nokia into the top most favored consumer product - I hope.Reply -
Kryan so does this mean no more crappy phones from Motorolla? (except the Droids that is)Reply
oh i do so hate Motorolla phones...thank you, Nokia/Siemens for this, should it mean the end of HelloMoto stupid phrases! -
mendocino This is actually about the network infrastructure branch of Motorola, not the Mobile Phone branch. Network infrastructure = antennas, exchanges, and all the software that goes with it. We are talking about GSM/CDMA/UMTS etc infrastructure. As it seems, Motorola will keep building its own mobile phones until further notice...Reply -
sviola Kryanso does this mean no more crappy phones from Motorolla? (except the Droids that is)oh i do so hate Motorolla phones...thank you, Nokia/Siemens for this, should it mean the end of HelloMoto stupid phrases!Reply
Actually, this does not apply to phones. Nokia-Siemens bought the Network Division from Motorola. Motorola will keep designing and manufacturing their phones as is.
But this is a good thing for Nokia, as they will be getting all Motorola customers (Verizon and Sprint among them) and strenghtening their position in the US. And if you consider that Nokia is one of the biggest proponents of LTE and in the next couple of years clients will be migrating to 4G Networks, you'll see that this was a very good move from Nokia.