Motorola posted double-digit sales declines in its troubled handset division despite the recent launches of several highly acclaimed handsets based on Google's popular Android operating system.
The handset division lost $132 million in the fourth quarter on a 22 percent decline in sales, which fell to $1.8 billion. Motorola shipped 10 million handsets and 2 million smartphones during the quarter, putting its share of the global handset market at 3.7 percent. Despite the sales decline, the division managed to narrow its losses from last year, when it fell into the red by $595 million. The results exclude deferred revenue of $200 million for certain smartphones sold during the quarter.
Motorola's handset chief Sanjay Jha, who is spearheading the division's turn-around, said in a statement that he was "pleased" with the progress of the Mobile Device 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," he said.
Motorola plans to broaden its handset portfolio throughout 2010 with the launch of at least 20 smartphones and the expansion of its MOTOBLUR service.
The company also posted steep sales declines in its network and enterprise divisions. Revenue in Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility segment was just $2 billion in the fourth quarter, a 24 percent decline compared to the same period last year. The segment's income was also down sharply, coming in at $91 million compared to $257 million last year.
Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Solutions segment fared a bit better with a sales decline of just 12 percent, which hit $2 billion in the fourth quarter. The segment earned $368 million compared to $466 million last year.
Though Motorola co-chief executive officer and CEO of Broadband Mobility Solutions Greg Brown was optimistic about the company's strategic position going forward, the company said it expected to post a loss of $0.01 to $0.03 per share in the first quarter.
For the full year 2009, Motorola lost $51 million on sales of $22 billion. The company lost over $4 billion in 2008.