Motorola Prepares For Layoffs, Focuses on Google's Android

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=3804' target='_blank'>http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=3804</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Phone Scoop has learned that Motorola's handset division is expecting a large round of layoffs as soon as this week, according to someone familiar with Motorola's plans. The layoffs are confirmed to be significant and may amount to 50% of the entire handset operation... Motorola is prepared to trim the number of new phones it brings to market down to just a dozen per year, and the only smartphones it will produce will be based on Google's Android platform."</em></p><p>I always hate to hear of layoffs like this, and in this economy, I am getting especially tired of it as another large one seems to come every few days. I am not surprised to hear they are going to use only one platform for their smartphones. Their success with Windows Mobile has been sporadic, though it would be hard to argue that the Moto Q is a device loved by many. Will you miss Motorola as a Windows Mobile handset maker?</p>

[Sven Johannsen]

Whether or not MS intends to have less WM devices out there, maybe it is just going to work out that way.

[Rocco Augusto]

Didn't one of the higher ups from Motorola accidentally mention (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/news/show/91138/can-t-wait-for-windows-mobile-7-try-windows-mobile-6-5.html) they were closely working with Microsoft on Windows Mobile 6.5 and even opening an office in Seattle and what-not? I would hate to see Motorola stop producing Windows Mobile handsets but I wouldn't mind an Android device with the keyboard of the Q9 *drool*

[Don Tolson]

Is there a spelling mistake in the title? Should it be 'Prepares'?

[Ed Hansberry]

Is there a spelling mistake in the title? Should it be 'Prepares'?

Yup. Textpad does a good job on spell checking my articles, but I don't run the titles through it. Maybe I should. :eek:

[caywen]

Microsoft just hasn't followed Andy Grove's time-tested motto: only the paranoid survive. I think Microsoft took a look at iPhone and thought it could half-ass its way with WinMo for half a decade. You know, since Apple has always been about sleekness and functionality anyways, that gives Microsoft an excuse to continue to be clunky. iPhone's success must be a fluke, they probably thought. Apple just got lucky. There's nothing to the fact that their SDK is modern and that their AppStore is exactly what developers were looking fore. Bah! Who cares if most of their WinMo developers already switched their focus - WinMo is the hotness!

Gotta keep that WinMo7 info super secret, you know? Because if Apple, Palm, and Google see what we're working on, well that would be terrible! Sorry devs, no future roadmap for you. But here's a new version of Visual Studio that contain nothing more than a slightly updated SDK.

*rolls eyes*

Now Palm pre is going to lock WinMo out of Sprint's market, and Motorola just pulled the rug from under them. Who's left? HTC? They're dating Android now, too.

Maybe Microsoft should release WinMo 6.5. I'm sure new icons and bundling Windows Live Mobile will be a surefire way to trounce the competition. And we'll even get whizzy menus in WinMo 7, I'm sure. And you'll *still* get to code in GDI and Win32. What a treat!

[Pony99CA]

Didn't one of the higher ups from Motorola accidentally mention (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/news/show/91138/can-t-wait-for-windows-mobile-7-try-windows-mobile-6-5.html) they were closely working with Microsoft on Windows Mobile 6.5 and even opening an office in Seattle and what-not?
That's what I questioned about this story, too. So far, the only place I've heard it from is PhoneScoop or blogs picking up PhoneScoop's story. The layoffs I don't find hard to believe, but Motorola abandoning Windows Mobile so soon after they said they were working more closely with Microsoft seems a stretch.

Of course, the economy isn't great, so maybe things have changed this quickly, but I'll believe when I see a Motorola press release.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

Now Palm pre is going to lock WinMo out of Sprint's market, and Motorola just pulled the rug from under them.
Did the iPhone lock Windows Mobile out of AT&T? No. So why will the Pre lock up Sprint?

And you'll *still* get to code in GDI and Win32. What a treat!
When was the last time you wrote a Windows Mobile application? You can use MFC to write native code (and maybe something newer now) and .NET to write managed code. Those are far above Win32 (even if they use Win32 as their underpinnings).

Steve

[caywen]

I admit it's been months since I last wrote a WinMo app.

[hotdram]

Layoff announcement from CNN:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/14/news/companies/motorola_jobs/index.htm

~Rob