6 ms·

Motorola to Cut 20% of Work Force, Part of Sweeping Change

70 points by mjfern 14y ago

justanotheratom 14y ago
Motorola is notorious for hiring and firing employees every year or two.
- mmariani 14y ago
  Let's just hope they fire the right ones this time. ;-)
  - tcbawo 14y ago
    Agreed, it's almost like a public union -- where the ones who deserve to be fired are the last to go.
bretpiatt 14y ago
I like the changes they're making. Post-merger integration is the most difficult part of a deal especially when you have significantly different cultures. I understand "integration" here isn't combining them into one operating company, it is the delivery of Google's vision of what Motorola can become, a vision Motorola thought was wrong prior to the deal (or they would have already been doing it).
pkulak 14y ago
Can they just fire everyone who works on MotoBlur?
- CrazedGeek 14y ago
  I think they did -- the last(/only) Motorola phone I had (the Photon) barely had any MotoBlurryness. Other than the theme being Froyo-esque on a Gingerbread phone and some shiny buttons here and there, it felt really close to AOSP. And this was before the Google acquisition.
- Osiris 14y ago
  I'd attribute that fiasco to management, not necessary the unfortunate employees forced to implement such a terrible idea.
  - raverbashing 14y ago
    I would just fire everyone that ever got close to that thing just in case Ok, management told them to drive off a cliff, then they went and did exactly that.
    - objclxt 14y ago
      ...so you're telling me if you were asked by your boss to implement a software feature you didn't like you'd leave your job on principle? Most people don't have that luxury. Sure, you can moan about it, but sometimes you have to suck it up.
      - raverbashing 14y ago
        Not a feature that I didn't like, but something that's obviously a train wreck. I've ended in situations like that, but then boss saw it was unsustainable and a major overhaul was needed. But if the company only goes for actively making the user experience crap for nothing I would consider moving
  - pkulak 14y ago
    Of course. I was 98% joking.
CrazedGeek 14y ago
> And, people familiar with the companies say, Google could decide to follow Apple's lead and build a phone from silicon to software, perhaps by creating a separate operating system for Motorola that other phone makers cannot use. The only way I could see this happening (within the next few years) is if Google makes a Firefox OS-alike. They have way too much invested in Android to give it up so suddenly.
- influx 14y ago
  Just make the next Android OS Motorola exclusive for 6 months, and then Open Source it... They just have to balance between what they want to do and their OEM partners.
  - hkmurakami 14y ago
    I think that's too drastic of a move, and would severely alienate partners, especially since Google has cultivated strong relationships with OEMs via their GED programs. A more sensible differentiating move would be to simply strive for a better user experience and more seamless HW/SW integration in their MOT phones by leveraging their deeper understanding of the OS and the framework.
    - nmridul 14y ago
      They only have to do these two things - Build more reliable hardware - provide stock android on all Motorola phones That would make more people want to have a Motorola phone.
    - FigBug 14y ago
      What does it matter if Google alienate's there partners, where are they going to go? They need Android more than Google needs them.
  - jeffool 14y ago
    Vanilla Android. How many manufacturers ship with just vanilla Android, completely unlocked? That alone would make a good bullet point, even if someone does have worthwhile additions.
hkmurakami 14y ago
>... Dennis Woodside, Motorola’s new chief executive, in a rare interview. “We’re excited about the smartphone business,” said Mr. Woodside, who previously led Google’s sales and operations for the Americas. Interesting. They put a Sales/Ops guy at the helm of Motorola, which implies that (in a way, naturally) all strategic decisions will be made by Google and passed down to the subsidiary. (I think this is actually an important piece of information to confirm, since a good portion of subsidiaries do make strategic decisions for themselves) >In addition to the coming cuts, Google has gutted Motorola management, letting go 40 percent of its vice presidents. Great move, I'd have much more confidence in Motorola's engineering staff than the (former) upper brass. >They will focus on Motorola’s storied past and the ways the products are better than the competition’s, like battery life. Not too sure about this; every OEM on the face of the earth is utterly obsessed about battery life. I don't think any OEM can make battery life a differentiating feature. Every OEM presses all its suppliers and solutions providers for maximal power efficiency, and of course, said suppliers cross supply for many OEMs.
- yitchelle 14y ago
  Truly agree about the battery life. It the one thing that defines a mobile device, be it a phone, a pocket calculator, a language translator etc. Motorola would need to improve it by a couple orders of magnitude for it become a game changer. Imagine having a mobile phone that only needs to be charged once a fortnight!
  - abrahamsen 14y ago
    You mean smartphone. My old Nokia 1200 did have two weeks battery time.
- guelo 14y ago
  Android manufacturers have been obsessed at the high end with big screens and thinness, both of which come at the expense of battery life.
- microcentury 14y ago
  -> Interesting. They put a Sales/Ops guy at the helm of Motorola, which implies that (in a way, naturally) all strategic decisions will be made by Google and passed down to the subsidiary. This absolutely does not follow. Woodside is a senior trusted Google executive. Edit: Removed absent-minded italics tags.
BadassFractal 14y ago
Got myself a Motorola Triumph last year, returned it within a week. The most awful Android phone I ever used. Nonexistent battery, missed taps (almost every 10 taps or so), GPS took about a minute or longer to latch on. Went back to a 3 year old Optimus V, slow as hell, but at least it works as intended. Not buying a Motorola phone until there's major indication that they got their stuff together.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
ehutch79 14y ago
This can actually only be a good thing. There's so many layers of management in motorola. Dealing with them is like a page form the script of brazil
eavc 14y ago
>“It got left in the dust by the competition and kind of missed the smartphone transition,” said Charles S. Golvin, a mobile analyst at Forrester Research. Motorola's Droid was the best smartphone available at the time of its release and sold tons. They didn't miss the transition, they fumbled.
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  As an original Droid owner, the Droid was a great phone. Tying the phone to a brand name owned by Verizon was probably a bad idea, all things considered, causing considerable confusion among mainstream non-techies as to what they should upgrade to post "OG" Droid. And then they also kneecapped the techie market by switching to locked bootloaders (they've since recanted on this, but I still view the Motorola brand negatively solely because of what they did with locked bootloaders in the past).
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
The8thDwarf 14y ago
Those of you who are managers, can you tell me how it is possible to have a group which is "not afraid of failure" after 20% layoffs and with everybody wearing name badges with their expiration dates on them???

70 points by mjfern 14y ago

justanotheratom 14y ago

Motorola is notorious for hiring and firing employees every year or two.

mmariani 14y ago
Let's just hope they fire the right ones this time. ;-)
- tcbawo 14y ago
  Agreed, it's almost like a public union -- where the ones who deserve to be fired are the last to go.

bretpiatt 14y ago

I like the changes they're making. Post-merger integration is the most difficult part of a deal especially when you have significantly different cultures. I understand "integration" here isn't combining them into one operating company, it is the delivery of Google's vision of what Motorola can become, a vision Motorola thought was wrong prior to the deal (or they would have already been doing it).

pkulak 14y ago

Can they just fire everyone who works on MotoBlur?

CrazedGeek 14y ago
I think they did -- the last(/only) Motorola phone I had (the Photon) barely had any MotoBlurryness. Other than the theme being Froyo-esque on a Gingerbread phone and some shiny buttons here and there, it felt really close to AOSP. And this was before the Google acquisition.
Osiris 14y ago
I'd attribute that fiasco to management, not necessary the unfortunate employees forced to implement such a terrible idea.
- raverbashing 14y ago
  I would just fire everyone that ever got close to that thing just in case Ok, management told them to drive off a cliff, then they went and did exactly that.
  - objclxt 14y ago
    ...so you're telling me if you were asked by your boss to implement a software feature you didn't like you'd leave your job on principle? Most people don't have that luxury. Sure, you can moan about it, but sometimes you have to suck it up.
    - raverbashing 14y ago
      Not a feature that I didn't like, but something that's obviously a train wreck. I've ended in situations like that, but then boss saw it was unsustainable and a major overhaul was needed. But if the company only goes for actively making the user experience crap for nothing I would consider moving
- pkulak 14y ago
  Of course. I was 98% joking.

CrazedGeek 14y ago

> And, people familiar with the companies say, Google could decide to follow Apple's lead and build a phone from silicon to software, perhaps by creating a separate operating system for Motorola that other phone makers cannot use. The only way I could see this happening (within the next few years) is if Google makes a Firefox OS-alike. They have way too much invested in Android to give it up so suddenly.

influx 14y ago
Just make the next Android OS Motorola exclusive for 6 months, and then Open Source it... They just have to balance between what they want to do and their OEM partners.
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  I think that's too drastic of a move, and would severely alienate partners, especially since Google has cultivated strong relationships with OEMs via their GED programs. A more sensible differentiating move would be to simply strive for a better user experience and more seamless HW/SW integration in their MOT phones by leveraging their deeper understanding of the OS and the framework.
  - nmridul 14y ago
    They only have to do these two things - Build more reliable hardware - provide stock android on all Motorola phones That would make more people want to have a Motorola phone.
  - FigBug 14y ago
    What does it matter if Google alienate's there partners, where are they going to go? They need Android more than Google needs them.
- jeffool 14y ago
  Vanilla Android. How many manufacturers ship with just vanilla Android, completely unlocked? That alone would make a good bullet point, even if someone does have worthwhile additions.

hkmurakami 14y ago

>... Dennis Woodside, Motorola’s new chief executive, in a rare interview. “We’re excited about the smartphone business,” said Mr. Woodside, who previously led Google’s sales and operations for the Americas. Interesting. They put a Sales/Ops guy at the helm of Motorola, which implies that (in a way, naturally) all strategic decisions will be made by Google and passed down to the subsidiary. (I think this is actually an important piece of information to confirm, since a good portion of subsidiaries do make strategic decisions for themselves) >In addition to the coming cuts, Google has gutted Motorola management, letting go 40 percent of its vice presidents. Great move, I'd have much more confidence in Motorola's engineering staff than the (former) upper brass. >They will focus on Motorola’s storied past and the ways the products are better than the competition’s, like battery life. Not too sure about this; every OEM on the face of the earth is utterly obsessed about battery life. I don't think any OEM can make battery life a differentiating feature. Every OEM presses all its suppliers and solutions providers for maximal power efficiency, and of course, said suppliers cross supply for many OEMs.

yitchelle 14y ago
Truly agree about the battery life. It the one thing that defines a mobile device, be it a phone, a pocket calculator, a language translator etc. Motorola would need to improve it by a couple orders of magnitude for it become a game changer. Imagine having a mobile phone that only needs to be charged once a fortnight!
- abrahamsen 14y ago
  You mean smartphone. My old Nokia 1200 did have two weeks battery time.
guelo 14y ago
Android manufacturers have been obsessed at the high end with big screens and thinness, both of which come at the expense of battery life.
microcentury 14y ago
-> Interesting. They put a Sales/Ops guy at the helm of Motorola, which implies that (in a way, naturally) all strategic decisions will be made by Google and passed down to the subsidiary. This absolutely does not follow. Woodside is a senior trusted Google executive. Edit: Removed absent-minded italics tags.

BadassFractal 14y ago

Got myself a Motorola Triumph last year, returned it within a week. The most awful Android phone I ever used. Nonexistent battery, missed taps (almost every 10 taps or so), GPS took about a minute or longer to latch on. Went back to a 3 year old Optimus V, slow as hell, but at least it works as intended. Not buying a Motorola phone until there's major indication that they got their stuff together.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

ehutch79 14y ago

This can actually only be a good thing. There's so many layers of management in motorola. Dealing with them is like a page form the script of brazil

eavc 14y ago

>“It got left in the dust by the competition and kind of missed the smartphone transition,” said Charles S. Golvin, a mobile analyst at Forrester Research. Motorola's Droid was the best smartphone available at the time of its release and sold tons. They didn't miss the transition, they fumbled.

georgemcbay 14y ago
As an original Droid owner, the Droid was a great phone. Tying the phone to a brand name owned by Verizon was probably a bad idea, all things considered, causing considerable confusion among mainstream non-techies as to what they should upgrade to post "OG" Droid. And then they also kneecapped the techie market by switching to locked bootloaders (they've since recanted on this, but I still view the Motorola brand negatively solely because of what they did with locked bootloaders in the past).
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

The8thDwarf 14y ago

Those of you who are managers, can you tell me how it is possible to have a group which is "not afraid of failure" after 20% layoffs and with everybody wearing name badges with their expiration dates on them???