Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:51 am
Struggling handset maker Motorola posted an unexpected quarterly profit as losses narrowed, adding that it plans to launch more than 20 new smartphones in 2010, most of them running Google's Android software.
The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company earned $12 million compared with a loss of $397 million in the same quarter a year ago. But sales continued to drop after months of heavy losses and shrinking market share.
It also posted a fall of 27 percent in revenue -- to $5.4 billion from $7.5 billion a year ago -- and shipped 13.6 million phones in the third quarter, compared with 14.8 million in the second.
Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha, hired last year from Qualcomm to turn around the company's slide, has pinned its hopes on smartphones powered by Google's Android platform -- such as the "Droid" for Verizon and "Cliq" for T-Mobile.
Worldwide sales of more profitable smartphones continue to rise to as customers seek more features for their money.
"Smartphone performance will drive -- almost singularly -- our financial performance in 2010," said Jha.
After losing market share to rivals for more than two years, the Motorola reorganized its entire mobile business around Google's Android software.
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