Motorola Ships 12 Million Handsets in Q4 2009

Mobile phone maker Motorola announced today its financial results for the fourth quarter of the last year and for the entire year 2009, and posted sales of $1.8 billion for the mobile devices segment in the three months period ended December 31, 2009, marking a decrease of 22 percent when compared to the sale time frame a year ago. At the same time, Motorola also reported that it managed to ship 12 million handsets in the quarter, and that it accounted for around 3.7 percent of the market.

The company also unveiled GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) operating loss of $132 million for the time frame, a much lower one when compared to the $595 million loss posted in the year-ago quarter. However, the company notes that “these current quarter results exclude deferred revenue of $200 million and the related gross margin for certain smartphones sold during the quarter.” As for the entire year 2009, Motorola revealed sales of $7.1 billion, down from $12.1 billion in 2008, and GAAP operating loss of $1.1 billion, lower than an operating loss of $2.2 billion in 2008.

Motorola announced overall sales of $5.7 billion in the fourth quarter of the last year, along with GAAP earnings of $142 million, or .06 per share. For the entire year 2009, the company also reported sales of $22.0 billion, and full-year GAAP loss of .05 per share, compared to GAAP loss from continuing operations of $1.87 per share in 2008. The company managed to generate positive operating cash flow of $877 million during the fourth quarter of 2009, as for the entire year it generated positive operating cash flow of $629 million, and ended 2009 with a total cash position of $8.0 billion.

Mobile Devices highlights from the company's financial announcement include:
- Successfully launched two smartphones powered by Android, including TIME magazine’s “Best new gadget of 2009” – DROID by Motorola/MILESTONE, as well as CLIQ / DEXT with MOTOBLUR
- Shipped 2 million smartphones to customers globally in more than 20 countries
- Announced four new smartphones powered by Android and shipping in the first quarter, bringing our total number of new Android-powered devices to six:
 CES 2010’s “Gadget of the Show” winner – BACKFLIP maximizes the multi-tasking potential of MOTOBLUR with a unique reverse-flip design and a stunning 3.1-inch screen
 MT710 with China Mobile, featuring a 3.7-inch FWVGA display screen, the most advanced version of the OPhone platform and 4GB of storage space
 XT800 with China Telecom, featuring a 16 million-color WVGA display, two SIM card slots, a 550MHz processor and Wi-Fi
 MOTOROI, the first smartphone powered by Android available in Korea, featuring a full-touch screen, an 8-megapixel camera with Xenon flash and a 720p HD camcorder
 Announced SHOP4APPS store in China, offering consumers personalization for mobile experiences and developers a seamless path to market for their Android applications

When it comes to the first quarter of the ongoing year, Motorola says that it expects for a loss of .01 to .03 per share. Sanjay Jha, Motorola co-chief executive officer and CEO of Mobile Devices commented, “We are pleased with the meaningful progress we made in 2009 in further improving our cost structure and strengthening the operations of the Mobile Devices business. […] With an aggressive product and brand strategy and our continued focus on operational efficiency, we are building on our momentum to further improve the financial performance of the Mobile Devices business.”