Sanjay Jha uses Foursquare.
But don’t expect to easily find Motorola Inc.’s co-chief executive through the social networking service, which allows members to share their whereabouts with friends or broadcast their location on Twitter.
“I am on Foursquare — under a pseudonym,” Jha told the Tribune in a Thursday interview.
Jha’s participation in Foursquare illustrates how he’s not just an observer of social media, but also trying to predict trends by participating and learning how to incorporate these features into the next generation of phones. Motorola’s latest quarterly results, released Thursday, suggest that despite stiff competition, Jha’s turnaround strategy for mobile devices may be gaining enough momentum to lead the flagship division back to profitability, a goal the company has pegged for the fourth quarter.
Schaumburg-based Motorola reported net income of $69 million, or 3 cents per share, in the first quarter, reversing a loss of $231 million, or 10 cents a share, in the same period last year. Revenue slipped 6 percent, to $5 billion.
Profit was above analysts’ expectations, which called for a loss of 1 cent per share.
The mobile devices unit posted sales of $1.6 billion, a decline of 9 percent from the same quarter last year. But the unit sharply narrowed its operating loss to $192 million, from a loss of $545 million in 2009.
“The key points here are their profitability, and … earnings for this quarter were better than expected,” Avian Securities analyst Matt Thornton said. “The outlook for the second quarter is in line or a little better. For the full year, the guidance by and large was better, particularly for mobile devices. Incrementally, this was a good report.”
Jha has pinned the mobile devices recovery on phones that run Google’s Android operating system, which he described on an earnings call as the “fastest-innovating ecosystem” in the wireless world.
Motorola shipped 8.5 million phones in the first quarter. Of those devices, 2.3 million were smart phones, a category where Motorola had been largely absent until Jha put the Android strategy in place. The company’s smart phone portfolio now numbers eight devices; six were introduced during the first quarter.
Jha said Motorola will launch at least 20 smart phones this year, with total shipments between 12 million and 14 million units. The company previously had put the low end of the range at 11 million units.
Riding the Android wave alone won’t be enough for Motorola because many rival manufacturers are launching devices on the platform. To that end, the company is touting Motoblur, a Web-based service that aggregates updates from social-networking platforms and streams them to a phone. Most of Motorola’s phones this year will carry the service.
Jha said Motoblur’s next iteration will tackle multimedia, enabling features such as sharing songs with friends, who can listen to a snippet and buy the tune. Social location is also a possibility for Motoblur, perhaps by aggregating updates from different services such as Foursquare.
“Our approach always is to allow innovation (in Android applications) to occur, and integrate and push it to mobile devices, rather than compete with those services,” Jha told the Tribune. “The pace of innovation in the Internet is a wildfire pace, and we don’t want to compete with it. We want to leverage it.”
Analysts continued to voice concerns about Motorola’s ability to compete with the next wave of Android devices. Thursday was the launch date for Taiwanese manufacturer HTC Corp.’s Droid Incredible, an Android phone at Verizon Wireless, which also is the exclusive carrier for Motorola’s Droid. Verizon’s Web site said Thursday that high demand for the device was causing a short delay in shipments.
The Incredible “is also Android-based and looks quite impressive,” Citigroup analyst Jim Suva wrote in a report. “Does this pose a threat to Motorola’s footprint at Verizon, who is a strong supporter of Motorola Droid?”
Jha said he’s confident about Motorola’s competitive position. He told the Tribune he expects to have additional phones at Verizon that carry the Droid name, which the carrier is using to brand certain Android devices.
Among Motorola’s other divisions, its Home division posted earnings of $20 million, up from $3 million in the year-ago quarter, despite an 18 percent drop in sales. The unit makes cable television set-top boxes and, as of a February reorganization, is under Jha’s purview.
Co-Chief Executive Greg Brown oversees Enterprise Mobility Solutions, which makes communications gear for government and business clients, and Networks, which makes equipment for wireless carriers.
Enterprise Mobility saw profit jump to $141 million in the first quarter from $66 million a year earlier, with sales up 6 percent. The Networks division posted earnings of $112 million, up from $62 million a year ago. Sales fell 7 percent.
Motorola is planning to divide into two independent publicly traded companies in the first quarter of 2011. Executives said they are making progress and will provide a more detailed update this summer.
Motorola’s Droid devices
Cliq:
Motorola’s first Android device was released at T-Mobile in November. It also was the first phone to showcase Motoblur, geared toward social-networking junkies.
Droid:
The Droid received a high-profile launch from Verizon Wireless in November and was the first in a line of Android phones the carrier is branding with the “Droid” moniker. It does not carry Motoblur.
Backflip:
The Backflip, which debuted in March at AT&T, was the carrier’s first Android device. It runs Motoblur and has a quirky design that folds over to reveal a keyboard.
Devour:
The Devour, Motorola’s second Android device at Verizon Wireless, was launched in March. It features Motoblur.
— Wailin Wong
