Motorola finally splits into Mobility and Solutions units

Motorola has split its business in two, in a move approved by the board in November last year and first discussed two years ago.

The company filed documents explaining its intention to the Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2010, and has turned its network equipment and business arm into Motorola Solutions, and its mobile phone and set-top box arm into Motorola Mobility.

Greg Brown, president and chief executive at Motorola Solutions, is bullish about the firm's future prospects.

"With a purpose-driven brand and a strong balance sheet, we are very well positioned for the future," he said.

"Motorola Solutions has an outstanding platform to build from, and I believe our opportunities for growth will benefit customers, shareholders and employees. "

Motorola Mobility comes out of the company's mobile business, which may have lost some shine in the shadow of the iPhone and some Android devices, but is expecting to hit the ground running having launched some 23 phones based on the Google platform in 2010.

"We are well positioned to build on the strong momentum we have in smartphones and end-to-end video solutions, and to take advantage of opportunities resulting from the convergence of media, mobility, computing and the internet," said Sanjay Jha, chairman and chief executive at Motorola Mobility.

Jha added that the unit's 20,000 employees in various global locations and 24,500 patents granted and pending will help it to grow further.

A report from IDC released last year suggested that Motorola, along with Apple, is snapping at the heels of the big five mobile providers, Nokia, Samsung, LG, RIM and Sony Ericsson.

Jha also hinted at the introduction of new devices, including the possibility of a tablet PC.

"We will continue to work aggressively to capitalise on the next generation of converged devices and experiences to provide consumers with more intuitive and personalised services," he said.

The patents may prove to be of equal importance to Motorola, which is currently tackling Apple over the alleged infringement of 18 patents.