Motorola seeks to rival the Blackberry with range of devices. Check it out:
(Business, The (London) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 24--MOTOROLA is planning to create a new generation of portable devices for business that will rival the RIM Blackberry, according to City analysts.
Richard Windsor, a telecoms analyst at Nomura Securities, believes that Motorola's purchase of Symbol Technologies for $3.9bn (2.1bn, E3bn) last week will enable the US's biggest mobile phone maker to take on RIM, the maker of the Blackberry, and Nokia in mobile business communications.
"Symbol Technologies makes and sells handheld and fixed equipment and software used to manage retail, wholesale, transportation and healthcare industries. Symbol will become the core of Motorola's enterprise business," said Windsor.
Motorola has been successful in manufacturing devices designed to appeal to business users such as the Q smartphone, with its Qwerty keyboard and Microsoft mobile business software. But it has yet to make a serious impact on the global business enterprise market.
"Until now we have viewed Motorola as a minnow in enterprise," said Windsor. "We have long believed that companies need far more than just a device. For large corporations we believe that device customisation, device management and 24/7 support need to be offered along with the device to be successful."
Analysts now believe that the Symbol takeover offers Motorola a big opportunity to grow its enterprise business by giving companies a coordinated mobile network that covers white and blue collar operations together with a new generation of mobile devices aimed at business users.
Typically, white-collar mobile workers require elegant devices that can access e-mail while on the move and connect to the corporate intranet. Blue-collar workers traditionally require more robust devices with a scanner to read bar codes or wireless tags. But industry commentators now report that the division is becoming increasingly blurred with sales staff asking for more robust devices and blue-collar workers using increasingly sophisticated wireless access to the corporate network.
"Using Symbol's existing client base we see no reason why [Motorola's] coverage cannot be extended from the warehouse right the way up to the boardroom," said Windsor. "The only question is whether Motorola has the management depth to execute the vision."
Symbol makes bar code readers that scan prices at supermarkets and track inventory in warehouses. Its hand-held computers, which have bar code readers, are used by a host of mobile workers, from doctors to delivery van drivers. Symbol is a market leader in rugged mobile computers, with about a 31 percent share. Motorola has revenues of over $36bn, the majority of which comes from mobile phones.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Business, London
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