Motorola and Symbol: Driving Like Thelma and Louise
As they wake up for work Thursday morning, Symbol Technologies employees may feel like hitting the snooze button. Sure, many of those employees survived a corporate accounting scandal and fierce competition from Cisco Systems. And life was supposed to be just dandy once Motorola acquired Symbol in January. But unfortunately, Symbol jumped in the car just as Motorola’s business was accelerating–toward a cliff.
No need to panic, folks: Motorola and Symbol will be fine over the long haul, The VAR Guy believes. Together, the companies still pack a powerful portfolio of mobile devices, barcode technologies and WiFi gear. But things are going to be really difficult for the next few quarters.
Motorola on March 21 fired its CFO and slashed Q1 financial expectations amid fierce competition in the handset market. If Motorola wants to reconnect with customers–especially college kids–The VAR Guy suggests that the company get serious about dual-mode phones that support WiFi and cellular connections.
Symbol looked like it was going to be “the” player in mobile workforce solutions, with its strong position in mobile computers and its aggressive moves in WiFi infrastructure. As part of Motorola, they still can, but they’ll need even more focus on channel partners to do it.
Symbol has the channel. It’s motorola that needs fixing.
I couldn’t agree with the VAR Guy more. Motorola bought the “inside” with their acquisition of Symbol and they’ve always had a firm grasp of the “outside” with their wide area technologies. Now, they need to “marry” the two. They have something the others don’t: they own every piece of the infrastructure they need to make it happen.
As for a the “college kids”, Moto had a good thing going, but they seemed to have rested on their laurels a bit too much. Now, they’re in a bit of a game of “catch up”.
If they play their cards right, they could find themselves as “the player to beat” in both the lucrative consumer and enterprise space.
Keep your eyes on CTIA in Orlando this week.
Wakey wakey Moto.
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