The division is the largest division (based on revenue) of communications corporation
Motorola . The division is headquartered in
Libertyville, Illinois , a
Chicago suburb. Motorola's networks division (called Personal Communication Section (PCS) prior to 2004) pioneered the flip phone with the
StarTAC in the mid-
1990s . Motorola had a commanding lead in the
Analog cellphone market, but failed to jump on the
Digital bandwagon. This mistake combined with the lack of design innovation gave
Finnish company
Nokia the opportunity to leapfrog ahead of Motorola. Nokia today is the world's largest manufacturer of cellphones with a commanding 33%
Market Share . Motorola is a strong number two with a 19% market share as of October, 2005.
In 1996, Motorola introduced the StarTAC, which was then the smallest and lightest phone in the world, weighing 3.1
Ounce s.
In the late 1990s, lack of design and a friendly
User Interface left a gaping hole in Motorola's product offerings. Nokia saw this, and introduced stylish cellphones with a friendly human interface with features like a big screen and an easy to navigate menu. This was marketed as "human technology". Nokia's rise coincided with the cellphone revolution in several emerging markets such as India. Nokia quickly became no. 1 in the world.
In 2002-2003, Motorola's Mobile Devices department reinvented itself. Three areas of significant improvement were user friendliness, design and brand. Motorola started paying more attention to the user experience, and models such as the v300, v400 and v600 (called the triplets) were among the first to boast an easy user interface. Coupled with this improvement, Motorola stressed on design and brand image. The result of constant effort in this direction led to the
RAZR V3 .
In 2004, Motorola released the
RAZR V3 . This phone has been by far the largest selling phone in the United States and elsewhere since its introduction. In an era where free phones were the norm, this desirable fashion icon commanded a price of $499 with a two year contract. The RAZR was a runaway success and Motorola built on that success by releasing other phones based on their design. These include the
PEBL , Motorola L6 (ultra-thin but very affordable),
SLVR L7 (more expensive variant of L6), RAZR V3c (
CDMA ) and RAZR V3i (with
Apple ITunes ).
