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The R2-D2 Droid. (Motorola)
A limited-edition version of Motorola’s Droid 2 phone resembling lovable Star Wars droid R2-D2 will go on sale Thursday at one Verizon Wireless store in downtown Chicago.
Verizon, the exclusive carrier for the phone, said its store at 36 S. State St. will open at 12:01 am on Thursday. It has 100 of the devices in stock. The phone runs Google’s Android operating system and costs $249 with a rebate and two-year contract. Get the full story »
Motorola Inc. is seeking a reverse split of its common stock, hoping to boost the price of its shares before it splits into two publicly traded companies early next year.
In a reverse stock split, investors receive fewer shares for their current holdings. Fewer outstanding shares usually increase the stock price, although there’s no guarantee the price will return to its previous level after the split. Motorola’s shares have traded below $10 apiece for the last two years. In afternoon trade, the company’s stock was up 3.8 percent at $8.70. Get the full story »
The success of the iPad has put pressure on Motorola. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Motorola Inc. aims to deliver a tablet computer early next year, after the key holiday selling season.
“We want to make sure that any tablet that we deliver is competitive in the marketplace, and I think all of us will make sure that we will only deliver that when that occurs,” Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said late Wednesday.
Apple Inc.’s success with its new iPad have made tablets a must-have offering for gadget makers. Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled its seven-inch Galaxy Tab to the U.S. market at an event Thursday. Dell Inc. has already launched its five-inch Streak tablet in the U.S., and others are expected ahead of the holidays. Get the full story »
Motorola Inc. said Thursday it has acquired a company that develops location-based software for smartphone devices.
Terms of the deal with Aloqa GmbH, which has offices in Munich, Germany and Palo Alto, Calif., were not disclosed. Aloqa makes a mobile phone application that delivers content to a device based on where its owner is located. A person might receive discounts on local businesses or information about nearby events, Motorola said. Get the full story »
To see more photos of the Motorola Defy, click here.
Motorola Inc. unveiled a new Android mobile phone on Monday’s season premiere of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
The device, called the Motorola Defy, will be available through T-Mobile in time for the holidays, the Schaumburg-based communications equipment company said in a press release without releasing further details on pricing and dates. The phone uses Google’s Android operating system, which is the basis for almost all of the smartphones in Motorola’s portfolio.
The Defy has a 3.7-inch touch screen and is built to be scratch-resistant, water-resistant and dust-proof, Motorola said. Get the full story »
Nokia’s stock rallied Friday after the Finnish mobile phone maker said it was replacing its chief executive with an executive from Microsoft Corp.
Nokia’s board of directors said it hired Stephen Elop for the position of president and CEO. Currently the head of Microsoft’s business division, Elop is scheduled to begin his new job on Sept. 21. Get the full story »
Motorola Inc. has partnered with Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson on advanced technology for public safety agencies, the two companies said Tuesday. Get the full story »
Motorola Inc. plans to spin off its mobile phone and television set-top box businesses with $3.5 billion in cash when the Schaumburg-based company splits in two early next year.
Motorola SpinCo Holdings Corp., the entity created in preparation of the separation, disclosed the capitalization amount in a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Get the full story »
As U.S. companies shed millions of workers during the recession, the CEOs who laid off the most people brought home pay that was significantly higher than that of their peers, according to a Washington, D.C. think tank study.
The CEOs of the 50 U.S. companies that laid off the most workers between November 2008 and April 2010 were paid $12 million on average in 2009, or 42 percent more than the average across the Standard & Poor’s 500, the Institute for Policy Studies study said. Get the full story »
A customer looks at items for an HTC EVO smart phone at a Sprint store in Los Angeles, June 16, 2010. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
A hot new smart phone can be Incredible, Vibrant, Epic or just “eh,“ but no matter how it stacks up, it’s a safe bet that it will start selling at $199. And what’s so special about $199?
“The obvious answer is that $199 is a magic price point for smart phone volume,“ said George Appling, partner at consulting firm Booz & Co. “The not-so-obvious reason is that carriers are not charging customers what they pay.“ Get the full story »
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is continuing to buy up shares of Motorola Inc., disclosing his second batch of purchases in a week. Get the full story »
Activist investor Carl Icahn has upped his stake in Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. to about 10.6 percent from a 9.99 stake he disclosed earlier this month, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Get the full story »
The seemingly recession-proof smart phone is suffering from a side effect of the rough economy: Manufacturers simply can’t build enough of the gadgets because chip-makers that rolled back production last year are now scrambling to play catch-up.
The chip shortage means Apple Inc.’s rivals are having trouble making enough phones to compete with the iPhone, a problem expected to persist through the holidays. It’s also affecting wireless carriers, some of which are seeing delays in improving their networks, and it could even raise computer prices.
Motorola unveiled Tuesday its follow-up to the Droid smartphone it released last year, introducing a new handset with a redesigned keyboard and other improvements.
The Droid 2 will be available for online pre-sales on Wednesday and in-store sales at Verizon Wireless on Thursday. It will cost $199.99 after a mail-in rebate and requires a two-year contract and a smartphone data plan.
The original Droid was released in November at Verizon Wireless to generally positive reviews, although some users had gripes with the keyboard. Motorola said the new Droid 2 has a new keyboard “with raised keys for more responsive typing,” and also features increased processing power and the ability to be a mobile hotspot for up to five WiFi-enabled devices. The hotspot feature costs an extra $20 per month. Get the full story »
