Google is continuing to lay off staff at Motorola, which it bought last year. According to an email to employees -- seen by the Wall Street Journal -- a further 1,200 of them will get the chop. That's about 10 per cent of Motorola's workforce.
The cuts are in addition to 4,000 layoffs that started last August, when Google said it would lose 20 per cent of Motorola's staff. Tough times.
The email said that while Google is "very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges." It added that "our costs are too high, we're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money." Staff in the US, India, and China will be among those let go.
Motorola continues to haemorrhage cash since Google took it over. It posted losses of more than $500 million (£335 million) and over $350 million (£234 million) in the third and fourth quarters of 2012 respectively. The next flagship device -- dubbed the X Phone -- is rumoured to be in the works, and is said to be quite a doozy, with gesture recognition expected to play a big part in the camera software. It could also be quite affordable, like the Nexus 4. An X Tablet is expected to follow.
Google recently admitted it was using Motorola as an insurance policy against Samsung. Samsung is the biggest smart phone maker in the world now, after all, so I can see why Google feels it needs a hardware failsafe. Google is moving more into products, but usually outsources production to the likes of Asus or LG. The X Phone would be the first it's made using Motorola.
What do you think of Google's actions since taking over Motorola? And what would you like to see from an X Phone? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
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anonymous 10 March, 2013 06:41
The email said that while Google is "very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges." It added that "our costs are too high, we're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money." Staff in the US, India, and China will be among those let go
anonymous 10 March, 2013 11:33
Buying Motorola was a clear mistake since Google has no idea what to do with the whole company. The active role I see for Motorola is if they become to only company allowed to make Nexus phones. Allow Motorola to build different Nexus phones meant for different segments and promote it like the current Nexus phone. Put Motorola in a position where their phones are the blueprint for all Androids.
The X Phone will reportedly be released next year, at which point Motorola engineers will begin work on an X tablet. I want to see in using a bendable display and materials that would make the X Phone more durable.
Google is still trying to settle a similar antitrust probe in Europe. A resolution to that case is expected to come within the next few weeks.
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130103/NEWS08/130109945/google-gets-out-of-ftc-jam-by-licensing-motorola-patents#ixzz2N8T0omq9
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tgw123 11 March, 2013 12:31
There seems to have been virtually nothing done with the Motorola Mobile division Google bought some time ago. I've been amazed, having thought that after a while Motorola would start producing all of Google's products. Fance after all this time not having een released their fitst in-house model.
I too would like a really high-end phone that is also ruggedized, like an uprated Defy+ but with much better specifications and camera along the lines of the Sony Xperia Z, V, and acro S amongst others. Motorola have told me that there is "nothing in the pipeline to replce the Defy/Defy+" so I have to look elsewhere, yet the Defy is almost 3 years old. What on earth have Motorola been doing all this time? Thet could have made the Razr fully water-resistant but didn't. Had they done so I probably would have got that.
One other thing: I tried phoning Motorola Mobile here in the UK a fortnight ago to ask in person about future models as I wish to upgrade but in the end had to email. Why? Because on 3 occasions, once I had waited a long time to be put through to the right department, the person who picked the phone up didn't speak but just hung up! So much for the company's approach to its customers.
I'd get the Sony Xperia Z if the screen were not so huge, and there is also the on-going issue I have since become aware of regarding it appears the problems Sony has in releasing devices that work properly as they are suposed to adn as advertised. Also with the fact that many people who bought the new Xperia V have had battery discharging and random freeze in standby mode problems with their phones reported to the Sony Xperia Support Forum, yet after 25 pages no answers or even communication from Sony, who marked it off on page 1 as "Assumed Answered":
http://talk.sonymobile.com/thread/60422?start=240&tstart=0
There appear to be many issues with the new Xperia Z also, though you would never know it from the silence in the mobile media and from Sony:
http://talk.sonymobile.com/community/support/xperia_z_zl