Motorola swings axe again

Motorola is to lay off another 4,000 staff, totalling more than five per cent of the workforce, in the face of still-declining sales attributed to the global financial position and the fact that no one wants a Moto phone these days. The handset division will account for 3,000 of those being laid off, though those working on …

[Ralph B]

The UI from Hell

The article says that they are "moving heaven and earth to get the Motorola UI running on Google's smartphone platform."

Now, I can see that going to Android is a smart move, but porting that gawd awful MOT UI ... ?!

[Tom Richardson]

Beaten to it..

I came here to post exactly what Ralph B did.

[stizzleswick]

Looks like they suffer...

...from the usual sickness. Switch OS to avoid the problems of the legacy stuff, then glue the old, flawed UI on it. They're not the first to do that; Microsoft have done it several times already, though they currently go the other way around (keep using same flawed kernel, keep gluing different UIs on top).

Frankly, given Moto's track record for UI design, I wouldn't want ANY of their phones even as a gift. Motorola Smartphones? An oxymoron, if you ask me, no matter which OS they use.

[Yorkshirepudding]

motorolla business plan

1. design good looking but crap to use phones

2. implement awful UI

3. ????

4. Profit!!!

mines the one with the ugly feature packed proper mobile in it

[Shonko Kid]

What odds can I get for...

about a month or so before their save-the-ship Android handsets hit shelves they get distracted by something else shiny and change tack yet again. Like a kitten with a glitter ball.

[James]

Not a chance Moto

By being OS whores they seem to blame their lack of success on the underlying OS they choose. Of course it has nothing to do with Moto engineers themselves.

And their shit UI.

Bye-Bye Moto

[James Woods]

where are the layoffs?

Where are these layoffs? Im surprised that motorola assembles anything in the US, who's losing these jobs?

[Surur]

Moto NOT dropping Windows Mobile

You have in your article claimed Motorola will only do Windows Mobile devices, but Moto representatives have denied this - see here:

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What we don't know: If Motorola will discontinue its smartphone lineup based on Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Mobile platform, which a reader told us today. (Update: No. See below.)

Our reader suggests Motorola will instead focus entirely on phones running Google's (GOOG) Android platform, "with strong experience focus in multimedia and social messaging." Last year, Jha said Motorola would use Android for consumer-focused phones and Windows Mobile for business-focused phones. We've asked Motorola for clarification and will update if they reply.

Update: A Motorola rep says the company's three pronged strategy -- Windows Mobile, Android, and Moto's own P2K for low-end phones -- has not changed.

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http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/motorola-firing-4000

The article and rumour is wrong, and a correction would be appreciated.