To print: Click here or Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

This story was printed from silicon.com, located at http://www.silicon.com/

Story URL: http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39267936,00.htm

Motorola lands ex-Qualcomm exec for co-CEO
Mobile division gets new boss

By Marguerite Reardon

Published: Tuesday 05 August 2008

Motorola has picked an industry veteran to take the helm of its mobile phone division.

On Monday, the company announced that Sanjay Jha will be co-chief executive and head of the mobile-device business. Motorola said earlier this year it will separate the mobile-device business from the rest of the company. And since the split was announced, it had been searching for someone to head up the division.

Greg Brown, who only came on board as Motorola's chief executive late last year, will act as co-CEO. Brown will head up the company's broadband network division.

Jha is a smart choice for Motorola, as it tries to turn around its mobile phone business. For the past 14 years, Jha has been at chipmaker Qualcomm, where he most recently ran the company's CDMA division. Qualcomm's CEO, Paul Jacobs, wished him well in a press release, saying Jha had been instrumental in helping Qualcomm become "the number one wireless semiconductor supplier".

Jha will certainly have his work cut out for him. Over the past year and a half, Motorola has lost market share as it struggles to find a hit product to replace the Razr. Last year, it fell from the world's second-largest supplier of handsets to third.

Last week, Motorola surprised Wall Street with a small profit for the second quarter. But the company's handset division continued to drag on earnings. Most of the gains in the second quarter came from cost cutting and from its internet and cable businesses. Still, the company managed to hang on to its market share position, a surprising result, as many analysts had expected Nokia and Samsung to pick up share.

Now Motorola is looking toward the future. The company is expected to release several new phones, including ones with touchscreens, in time for Christmas.