14 DAY TRIAL // It is not unusual for rumors to go by, even if they eventually prove to have been unfounded. Still, the idea that Ericsson intends to buy Motorola is both unexpected and with great implications if proved to be true.
Motorola is going through rough times at the moment, which makes this company an excellent target for those that want to take it over. Last year, the handset sales dropped by 15 percent, which translated into a loss of more than 200 million USD. Even more, internal fights between stock holders have weakened the management of the company. This makes it a great deal more vulnerable than it has been until now and also an easy pray for the other mobile phone companies on the market that currently have more management stability.
Motorola has reached quite a success with the RAZR line of mobile phones. This brought them a huge profit, with 50 million such cell phones sold until now. Still, the company has failed to bring another innovative phone concept to match the success of this one.
Motorola's situation comes in contrast with the high profit results that Nokia and Ericsson have registered throughout the last year. In the past, both companies have resorted to profitable partnerships with other companies thus winning a greater share of the market. Ericsson has joined Sony expert in consumer electronics production as to bring Sony Ericsson mobile phones. A similar thing happened with Nokia too some time ago. They partnered with Siemens in order to provide the Nokia Siemens network kit.
Neither Ericsson nor Motorola have commented on this rumor, although it has raised a lot of questions and suppositions, some founded and many others not.