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Information about Motorola

Motorola Inc.
Enlarge picture
Motorola logo
Public (NYSE: MOT)
Founded1928
Headquarters Schaumburg, Illinois, USA
Key peopleEdward Zander, CEO & Chairman
IndustryTelecommunications
ProductsEmbedded systems
Microprocessors
Mobile phones
Two-Way radios
Networking Systems
Revenue$41.2 billion USD (2006)
Net income $4.578 billion USD (2005)
Employees66,000 (12/2006)
SloganHello Moto and also "Intelligence Everywhere"
Websitewww.motorola.com


Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is an American multinational communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

History

Motorola started as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in 1928. The name Motorola was adopted in 1947, but the word had been used as a trademark since the 1930s. Founders Paul Galvin and Joe Galvin came up with the name Motorola when their company started manufacturing car radios. A number of early companies making phonographs, radios, and other audio equipment in the early 20th century used the suffix "-ola," the most famous being Victrola; RCA made a "radiola"; there was also a company that made jukeboxes called Rock-Ola, and a film editing device called a Moviola. The Motorola prefix "motor-" was chosen because the company's initial focus was in automotive electronics. Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for radios, through the first walkie-talkie in the world, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. The company was also strong in semiconductor technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. Motorola has been the main supplier for the microprocessors used in Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh and Power Macintosh personal computers. The chip used in the latter computers, the PowerPC family, was developed with IBM and in a partnership with Apple (known as the AIM alliance). Motorola also has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite systems, digital cable boxes and modems.

Products

Motorola creates several different products for use of the government, public safety officials, business installments, and the general public. These products include cell phones, laptops, and radio communication devices.

Spinoffs

Motorola developed the first truly global communication network using a set of 66 satellites. The business ambitions behind this project and the need for raising venture capital to fund the project led to the creation of the Iridium company in the late 1990s. While the technology was proven to work, Iridium failed to attract sufficient customers and they filed for bankruptcy in 1999. Obligations to Motorola and loss of expected revenue caused Motorola to spin off the ON Semiconductor (ONNN) business August 4, 1999, raising for Motorola of about $1.1 Billion.

Further declines in business during 2000 and 2001, caused Motorola to spin off its government and defense business to General Dynamics. The business deal closed September 2001. Thus GD Decision Systems was formed (and later merged with General Dynamics C4 Systems) from Motorola's Integrated Information Systems Group.

On October 6, 2003, Motorola announced that it would spin off its semiconductor product into a separate company called Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.. The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 16th of the following year.

See also: List of Motorola products (including Freescale's semiconductors)

Quality systems

The Six Sigma quality system was developed at Motorola even though it became best known through its use by General Electric. It was created by engineer Bill Smith, under the direction of Bob Galvin (son of founder Paul Galvin) when he was running the company. Motorola University is one of many places that provide Six Sigma training.

Ratings from interest groups

Motorola received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign in 2004[1], 2005 [2] and 2006[3] , starting in the third year of the report.

Trivia

  • Motorola was generally known as Ma Batwings to the radio industry, a not-necessarily-complimentary reference to the Ma Bell moniker of the Bell System. In each case, the nickname refers to the dominant position in their respective industries.
  • Motorola pioneered the use of sub-audible tones (trademarked as Private Line by Motorola) to control radio equipment. The most common use of these tones is to open the squelch of radios when a certain tone is received, so that users don't have to listen to all of the traffic on their frequency, listening for their own callsign. The most popular use of "subaud" tones in ham radio is to close retransmission systems to any radio not sending the appropriate tone.
  • Motorola commercial, military and public safety radio equipment uses microphones and speakers of impedance values different than the products of nearly all other manufacturers, as a means of discouraging third-party manufacturers of earplugs, remote microphones, etc.
  • Many ham radio mountaintop repeater systems operate Motorola radios which have been in 24-hour-per-day service, 7 days per week, since the 1960s.
  • In the 1970s, at the height of the Quadraphonic audio boom, Motorola manufactured chipsets and semiconductors for Demodulators and Decoders in home audio receivers, by a variety of different audio manufacturers.

See also

References

External links

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Motorola phones
A seriesA760 A780 A830 A845 A925 A1000 A1200
C seriesC115 C139 C261 C975
E seriesE365 E398 E680 E770 E815 E1000
i seriesi710 i860 i870 i920/i930 i880 i455
MPx seriesMPx200 MPx220
T seriesT720
V seriesV60i V180 V188 V190 V220 V265 V276 V325 V360 V400 V551 V557 V600 V620 V635 V710 V980
W seriesW220 W370 W375 W385
Four-letter seriesFONE F3 KRZR K1 KRZR K1m KRZR K3 MING PEBL RAZR RAZR maxx RAZR 2 RIZR Z3 RIZR/ROKR Z6 ROKR Z6m RIZR Z8 ROKR E1 ROKR E2 ROKR E6 SLVR L2 SLVR L6 SLVR L7 SLVR L9 SCPL
OtherDynaTAC MicroTAC International 3200 StarTac Q Q 9h
A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its securities (stock, bonds, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange.
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New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1890s  1900s  1910s  - 1920s -  1930s  1940s  1950s
1925 1926 1927 - 1928 - 1929 1930 1931

Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII
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Village of Schaumburg
Lakeside, Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts

Seal
Coordinates:
Incorporated March 7, 1956
Government
 - Village President Al Larson
Area
 - Village 49.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Edward J. Zander (born January 12, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American business executive. He is Chief Executive Officer of Motorola, a title he has held since he started there in January, 2004.
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Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
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Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. In modern times, this process typically involves the sending of electromagnetic waves by electronic transmitters, but in earlier times telecommunication may have involved the use of
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Aspinwall Classification System (Leo Aspinwall, 1958) classifies and rates products based on five variables:
  1. Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)
  2. Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?)

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An embedded system is a special-purpose computer system designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions.[1] It is usually embedded as part of a complete device including hardware and mechanical parts.
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Microprocessor

Die of an Intel 80486DX2 microprocessor (actual size: 12×6.75 mm) in its packaging
Date Invented: Late 1960s/Early 1970s (see article for explanation)

Connects to:
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mobile phone or cell phone is a long-range, portable electronic device used for mobile communication. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching
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A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive (a transceiver), unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content one way. A push-to-talk or (Press To Transmit) button is often present to activate the transmitter.
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A telecommunications network is a of telecommunications links and nodes arranged so that messages may be passed from one part of the network to another over multiple links and through various nodes.
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Revenue is a business term for the amount of money that a company receives from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers.
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United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
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Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
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Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as retained earnings.
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United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
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20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
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2002 2003 2004 - 2005 - 2006 2007 2008

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A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.
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New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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A multinational corporation (MNC) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries. Very large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many countries.
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Communication is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. Communication requires that all parties understand a common language that is exchanged with each other.
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A company is a form of business organization.

Types

There are various types of company that can be formed in different jurisdictions, but the most common forms of company are:
  • a company limited by shares.

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Village of Schaumburg
Lakeside, Schaumburg Prairie Center for the Arts

Seal
Coordinates:
Incorporated March 7, 1956
Government
 - Village President Al Larson
Area
 - Village 49.
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City of Chicago

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Nickname: "The Windy City", "The Second City", "ChiTown", "Hog Butcher for the World", "City of the Big Shoulders", "The City That Works"
Motto: "Urbs in Horto
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