Motorola sees market share, margin gains through 2007 Wed May 24, 2006 11:55 AM ET
NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - Motorola Inc. (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) expects to gain market share and increase its cell-phone operating profit margin every quarter throughout 2006 and 2007, the head of its cell-phone division, Ron Garriques, said on Wednesday.
The executive, who heads Motorola's biggest division, also promised a new range of slim cell phones next year. The world's second-biggest cell-phone maker has boosted sales through its popular Razr phone product line. It is improving profits by reusing the same parts in many of its cell phones.
Garriques said the handset division would continue this year and next to meet a goal he set in 2004 for sequential quarter-over-quarter market-share gains and year-over-year quarterly increases in its operating earnings margin.
"In 2007 what I'll tell you is we'll gain share in every single quarter and year over year our (operating earnings) percentage will go up," Garriques said in an investment conference Webcast.
The company's operating profit margin was 11 percent in the first quarter and in the third and fourth quarters last year. It had a 21 percent first-quarter share of the cell-phone market, which is lead by Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research).
Motorola expects to sell 300 million to 500 million phones from the Razr and its design spin-offs in the lifetime of the product range, Garriques said.
Along with the flip-top slim Razr phone, the Razr product line includes the SLVR, a thin candy bar-shaped phone and the PEBL, a curvier version.
Garriques said Motorola would launch a new phone line called the SCPL -- pronounced "scalpel" -- next year. He did not give any details beyond describing the phones as thinner and with five features that would stand out from rival phones.
The company's shares were down 15 cents at $20.52 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
